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Anomalies

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by Svedankae » Wed May 20, 2009 1:47 am
It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.

A It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
B It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
C They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
D The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
E The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what


OA: A


Would you have picked the OA?
I would have chosen B since I thought to have spotted a subject-verb agreement error (anomalies being plural...) but apparently this is not the case?!
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by aj5105 » Wed May 20, 2009 2:29 am
(B) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that

Choice B talks about orbit of uranus (blah blah blah) leading to discovery of Neptune where as the fact is the anamolies led to the discovery.

The meaning changes over here.

As you have mentioned [spoiler](A)[/spoiler] makes sense.
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by rahulg83 » Wed May 20, 2009 9:17 am
Can someone explain why E is incorrect here??
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by California4jx » Wed May 20, 2009 9:24 am
aj5105 wrote:(B) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that

Choice B talks about orbit of uranus (blah blah blah) leading to discovery of Neptune where as the fact is the anamolies led to the discovery.

The meaning changes over here.

As you have mentioned [spoiler](A)[/spoiler] makes sense.
as explained above .. its the semantics that makes this choice wrong.
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by myohmy » Wed May 20, 2009 9:40 am
E is incorrect because the verb does not agree with the subject.

"The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what..."

Anomalies is plural, so the "was" should be "were." If the sentence read

"The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus were what..."

I might be inclined to pick it over A on a stylistic basis, but not as it stands.
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by Svedankae » Wed May 20, 2009 11:46 am
myohmy wrote:E is incorrect because the verb does not agree with the subject.

"The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what..."

Anomalies is plural, so the "was" should be "were." If the sentence read

"The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus were what..."

I might be inclined to pick it over A on a stylistic basis, but not as it stands.

But thats what it says in A, too, doesnt it?

"It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that"

Why is that correct? shouldnt it be "it were anomalies in the orbit of uranus that"...?
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by myohmy » Wed May 20, 2009 11:53 am
Nope. In choice A, "it" (singular) is the subject, so was is appropriate. In choice E, "anomalies" is the subject, so we have to use "were."
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by aj5105 » Wed May 20, 2009 11:58 am
It in (A) refers to 'all anomalies' together I guess.
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by cool_sni » Wed May 20, 2009 2:44 pm
A is correct, because both sides of "that" should be parallel.
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by gmat740 » Wed May 20, 2009 7:04 pm
E is incorrect because the verb does not agree with the subject.

"The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what..."

Anomalies is plural, so the "was" should be "were." If the sentence read

"The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus were what..."

I might be inclined to pick it over A on a stylistic basis, but not as it stands.
The anomalies is a collective noun and hence has to be singular.
eg:
The team is playing well (correct)
The team are playing well(Incorrect)


The kites flying in the sky was what John looked at.


Feel free to correct me.
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Re: Anomalies

by nervesofsteel » Wed May 20, 2009 11:47 pm
IMO C

as anomalies is plural...
Svedankae wrote:It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.

A It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
B It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
C They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
D The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
E The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what


OA: A


Would you have picked the OA?
I would have chosen B since I thought to have spotted a subject-verb agreement error (anomalies being plural...) but apparently this is not the case?!
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by Vemuri » Thu May 21, 2009 3:43 am
gmat740 wrote: The anomalies is a collective noun and hence has to be singular.
eg:
The team is playing well (correct)
The team are playing well(Incorrect)


The kites flying in the sky was what John looked at.

Feel free to correct me.
Anomalies is plural & anomaly is singular.
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IMO

by kc_raj » Thu May 21, 2009 7:54 am
IMO A,

original sentence talks about anomalies as a group in general by using "it"
singular so was is correct verb form,

however, The anomalies refers to specific anomalies because of the word "the" so it changes the meaning.
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by iamcste » Thu May 21, 2009 9:17 am
Guys,

"It was X that led to Y " is an Idiomatic construction

If you use search feature properly, you will get sentences of this structure

I remember one of Logitech's question was based on a similar logic
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