BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

WERE or WAS ?

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 250
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2010 2:21 am
Thanked: 10 times

WERE or WAS ?

by saurabhmahajan » Mon Jul 05, 2010 12:48 am
Hi Friends,

In the sentence below should we use "were" or "was".......Also plz explain for the same.

Fifty mililiters of the sodium chloride solution were added in the second step of the experiment
Thanks and regards,
Saurabh Mahajan

I can understand you not winning,but i will not forgive you for not trying.
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1893
Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 11:48 pm
Thanked: 215 times
Followed by:7 members

by kvcpk » Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:25 am
IMO,

Fifty mililiters of the sodium chloride solution was added in the second step of the experiment

Subject of the sentence is sodium chloride solution. It is singular. So it should be was.

Hope this helps!!
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 2:12 am
Thanked: 87 times
Followed by:5 members
GMAT Score:730

by hardik.jadeja » Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:36 am
The correct sentence is

Fifty mililiters of the sodium chloride solution were added in the second step of the experiment.

When you see "X of Y" structure as subject, always use X to determine whether the verb should be plural or singular.

Hope that helps..
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1893
Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 11:48 pm
Thanked: 215 times
Followed by:7 members

by kvcpk » Mon Jul 05, 2010 2:05 am
hardik.jadeja wrote:The correct sentence is

Fifty mililiters of the sodium chloride solution were added in the second step of the experiment.

When you see "X of Y" structure as subject, always use X to determine whether the verb should be plural or singular.

Hope that helps..
Oh.. didnt know this.. Thanks for sharing Hardik..
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 278
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:17 pm
Location: Bangalore,India
Thanked: 17 times

by loveusonu » Mon Jul 05, 2010 2:43 am
saurabhmahajan wrote:Hi Friends,

In the sentence below should we use "were" or "was".......Also plz explain for the same.

Fifty mililiters of the sodium chloride solution were added in the second step of the experiment
Were...what follows after preposition(of\in etc) is NOT the main noun.
Sonu
--------
When you want something desperately, the whole Universe conspires in helping to give it to you - The Alchemist
Top
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:30 am
Thanked: 4 times
GMAT Score:740

by gmat_Tutor » Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:56 am
saurabhmahajan wrote:Hi Friends,

In the sentence below should we use "were" or "was".......Also plz explain for the same.

Fifty mililiters of the sodium chloride solution were added in the second step of the experiment
I can cite some examples from google:

=> SHOULD BE WAS:

Ten milliliters of the sodium hypochlorite solution is diluted to 100.0 mL.
wenty-five milliliters of raw milk was artificially contaminated.

SHOULD BE WERE:

Two milliliters of the sodium chloride solution were pipetted in a 150 ml beaker.
Five milliliters of the sodium reagent are used for each milliequivalent of sodium.

From these examples, we can not conclude which one should be used. It may be WAS or WERE.

Now, it is a request to experts to solve this issue.
Thanks.
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:29 pm

by Ritwik » Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:33 am
Noun I.e. Solution determines the verb in quantity phrases. Don't google. It's GMAT specific grammar.Use is with solution.
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1