Clarification needed: SC - Grail 3rd Edition Practice Qn: 39

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arvindsekar: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2012 1:30 pm

by arvindsekar » Fri May 17, 2013 1:56 pm

Hello All,
If anyone could clarify my doubt, it will be really helpful.

39. It is ironical that a majority of employees of the automobile company has voted against the resolution, a resolution that was supposedly created to benefit these very employees.

(A) has voted against the resolution, a resolution that was supposedly created to benefit
(B) has voted against the resolution, which was supposedly created to benefit
(C) has voted against the resolution, supposedly created to benefit
(D) have voted against the resolution, a resolution which was supposedly created for the benefit of
(E) have voted against the resolution, a resolution that was supposedly created to benefit.

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Official Answer is (E)

Here we use the collective noun "majority" which should take the singular verb "has". But why are we here referring to employees and taking a plural verb "have".
In the same book, under the collective noun grammar review session, there is an example where they state "The pride of lions spends most of its time sleeping ".

Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Fri May 17, 2013 1:56 pm

jack.daniel: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 22; Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:53 pm; Thanked: 2 times

by jack.daniel » Fri May 17, 2013 4:37 pm

Hello Arvindsekar,

Numerical words such as majority, minority, plurality can be either singular or plural depending upon the context.

Here, majority of employees mean [many individual] employees in total. Therefore plural verb 'have' is used.

In D, meaning is altered by using WHICH instead of THAT.
Which tells that Resolution is generally created to benefit employees.
That talks only about a particular resolution that is created to benefit employees.

In E, purpose of RESOLUTION is clearly conveyed by TO BENEFIT instead of noun phrase THE BENEFIT OF EMPLOYEES.

Therefore, correct answer is E.

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