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S-V aggrement

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S-V aggrement

by arorag » Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:58 pm
higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

a) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.
b) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
c) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
d) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like earlier in the decade
e) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade
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by smushkas » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:35 pm
B, D and E can be crossed out right away because singular subject, "like" in A is incorrect. The answer should be C.
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by arorag » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:48 pm
Yes, I got the same ans with same logic but OA is B. Any other taker
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by camitava » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:43 pm
that in the Qs is referring to the factors but not the higher interest rate. As the former is plural in sense, the verb should match with that. So I will go for B.
Correct me If I am wrong


Regards,

Amitava
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by xeqtr » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:05 am
if that is referring to factors, why do we have "as it did" instead of "as they did" ?? Since "factors" keep the market under control. Am I getting the point wrong?
camitava wrote:that in the Qs is referring to the factors but not the higher interest rate. As the former is plural in sense, the verb should match with that. So I will go for B.
:roll:
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by ikant » Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:53 am
Oh boy, we have a confusion here.

The last clause "as it did earlier..." does not have factors as its subject but rather the housing market.

I hope this clarifies the doubt.
"To do is to be"
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by xeqtr » Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:38 am
you mean higher interest rate I suppose not house market?:roll:
ikant wrote:Oh boy, we have a confusion here.

The last clause "as it did earlier..." does not have factors as its subject but rather the housing market.

I hope this clarifies the doubt.
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subject

by resilient » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:43 pm
usually the subject is hidden right before the word "OF". In this case its "ONE" so by instinct I would have chosen a. "THe only one that keeps" Tricky
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by krajaram29 » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:39 pm
one of the ---- (plural form) that ------ takes a plural verb. so here it is -- one of the factors that take.

as it did earlier in b is correct.
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by sampleresume » Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:23 pm
All in all, C is correct
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by uptowngirl92 » Thu Oct 15, 2009 5:58 pm
A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

A) keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did
B) keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
C) keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
D) keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like earlier
E) keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier
OA:B

Subject of the sentence is the main issue here.Usually whatever preceded by "of" is taken as the subject(here,ONE) but in this sentence the sentence is "FACTORS" because it is preceded by THAT.Can somebody please tell me the rule or shed some more light on this??
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by krazy800 » Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:11 pm
Here is an excerpt from Ron from his previous posts. This information is relevant to the question posted. I hope you find it useful.

i'll address this list, but i'll give you a warning / suggestion first.

CAVEAT:
this is one of those things that is RIDICULOUSLY hard to memorize, but is actually pretty easy just to deduce from context. so, unless you're prepared to memorize a whole lot of easily confused, easily forgotten rules that are extremely subtle, you should just think about the context and go from there.

* for instance, given
X is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that (keep/keeps) the market from spinning out of control
it's clear that there are MANY factors, ALL of which keep the market from doing blah blah blah, and that X is just one of them.
since there are MANY factors keeping...., we should use the plural "keep".

* on the other hand, given
X is the only one of the factors that (keep/keeps) the market from spinning out of control
it's clear that there are many factors, but NONE OF THEM EXCEPT X keeps the market from doing blah blah blah.
since X is the ONLY factor keeping...., we should use the singular "keeps".

in 99.9% of these, you'll be able to just think about the context in this way, saving yourself a horrendous amount of time and effort.

--

nevertheless, IF you still feel like k!II!ng yourself with memorization, then i'll indulge you.
Quote:
1. One of the Xs that/who <plural>


if this is NOT preceded by "the" or "the ADJ", then this is always plural.
(context hint: if there's no "the" or "the ADJ", then there are many X's who do this)
Quote:
2. One of the Xs <singular>


if this is "one of the Xs VERB"
and NOT one of the Xs THAT verb",
then yes, this is always singular.
(context hint: nothing to indicate that any of the other Xs do this; only one is known to do it)
Quote:
3. only One of the Xs <singular>


correct, as long as it's not "only one of the X's THAT..."
Quote:
4. only One of the Xs that/who <singular>


this is 2 different cases.

if it's "THE only one of the X's that/who...", then it should be SINGULAR.

if it's JUST "only one of the X's that/who...", then it should be PLURAL.

--

let me emphasize again that memorizing these rules is about 65,535 times as hard as deducing the correct form from context.
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by crackgmat007 » Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:11 pm
if it's "THE only one of the X's that/who...", then it should be SINGULAR.
Good explanation. But having trouble understanding the above rule. Do you have an example?
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by krazy800 » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:55 pm
@crackgmat007


Sure!


Example for 'The only of X usage' (from Wren & Martin)

This is the only one of his poems that is not worth reading.

Here, the definite article 'the' refers to a specific poem (of the several poems written by the author) that is not worth reading. Therefore the subject (one specific poem) of the above sentence is singular and needs a singular verb 'is'.

Hope this clarifies your question!!!!
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by crackgmat007 » Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:11 pm
Thanks. An example for each situation would be of great help for everyone on the forum. If you have time, pls add example for each situation stated in your earlier post. That helps understanding the context with the help of an example.
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