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The use of NOT ONE OF.....

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The use of NOT ONE OF.....

by amysky_0205 » Tue Jan 29, 2013 7:09 am
Not one of the potential investors is expected to make an effort to buy First Interstate Bank until a merge agreement is signed that includes a provision for penalties if the deal were not to be concluded.

A. is expected to make an offer to buy First Interstate Bank until a merge agreement is signed that includes a provision for penalties if the deal were
B. is expected to make an offer for buying First Interstate Bank until they sign a merge agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal was
C. is expected to make an offer to buy First Interstate Bank until a merge agreement be signed by them with a provision for penalties if the deal were
D. are expected to make an offer for buying First Interstate Bank until it signs a merge agreement with a provision for penalties included if the deal was
E. are expected to be making an offer to buy First Interstate Bank until they sign a merge agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal were

OA: A

I narrowed down to A, B and C.

can someone explain?
and the use of "NOT one of ...", it's the VERB that is decided by the last noun to see whether it's singular or plural. ---> is this right?

thank u!
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by hemant_rajput » Tue Jan 29, 2013 8:55 am
amysky_0205 wrote:Not one of the potential investors is expected to make an effort to buy First Interstate Bank until a merge agreement is signed that includes a provision for penalties if the deal were not to be concluded.

A. is expected to make an offer to buy First Interstate Bank until a merge agreement is signed that includes a provision for penalties if the deal were
B. is expected to make an offer for buying First Interstate Bank until they sign a merge agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal was
C. is expected to make an offer to buy First Interstate Bank until a merge agreement be signed by them with a provision for penalties if the deal were
D. are expected to make an offer for buying First Interstate Bank until it signs a merge agreement with a provision for penalties included if the deal was
E. are expected to be making an offer to buy First Interstate Bank until they sign a merge agreement including a provision for penalties if the deal were

OA: A

I narrowed down to A, B and C.

can someone explain?
and the use of "NOT one of ...", it's the VERB that is decided by the last noun to see whether it's singular or plural. ---> is this right?

thank u!

Here is one quick trick

Myth of "One of.."


1. One of the X's that/who <plural>
2. One of the X's <singular>
3. Only one of the X's <singular>
4. Only one of the X's that/who <plural>
5. The only one of the X's that/who <singular>

so now D and E are out.

Now b is breaking parallelism, "not to be concluded"; so right preposition is to not for

Now between A and C

In C, "merge agreement be signed by them" is wrong.

so The winner is A.

let me know if there is any mistake in my approach.
I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.
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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Jan 29, 2013 12:47 pm
Hemant is correct here. The issue is not the NOT, it's that ONE OF THE POTENTIAL INVESTORS is singular, not plural. Whenever you have ONE OF ____, the subject is singular, regardless of what's in the blank.

Hemant, even in your example, ONE OF THE X's WHO...., the "one" is still singular. The WHO <PLURAL> clause is modifying X's. For example, One of the teams who are playing in the semifinal is going to win the title.

Between A, B, and C...

B uses the incorrect idiom "offer for buying" rather than "offer to buy." It also uses "they" when there is no plural antecedent. There is no parallelism issue here, but there is a verb issue. "If the deal was" does not convey the correct sense of the hypothetical. We don't know whether the deal will be included or not, so we need the subjunctive: "if the deal WERE included."

C also incorrectly uses a plural pronoun "them." Also, "until an agreement BE signed" is not the correct verb usage.

The correct answer is A.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by rajatvmittal » Wed Jan 30, 2013 7:21 am
Hi

Can that refer to a noun in the clause as in choice A. That modifies agreement but it is the subject of the clause ' agreement is signed'.

General rule states that 'that' modifies immediate noun or noun phrase?

Please clarify?

rajat
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