Sentence Correction

1．According to scientists at the University of California, the pattern of changes that have occurred in human DNA over the millennia indicate the possibility that everyone alive today might be descended from a single female ancestor who lived in Africa sometime between 140,000 and 280,000 years ago.
(A) indicate the possibility that everyone alive today might be descended from a single female ancestor who
(B) indicate that everyone alive today might possibly be a descendant of a single female ancestor who had
(C) may indicate that everyone alive today has descended from a single female ancestor who had
(D) indicates that everyone alive today may be a descendant of a single female ancestor who
(E) indicates that everyone alive today might be a descendant from a single female ancestor who

here the phrase "that have occured" gives us the plural verb. So it should be "indicate" rather than "indicates". also in this forum i have seen a post in which it was said that in "X of Y" form, if Y is plural then the verb should also be plural...still not sure though.

anyone pls help on this one with proper explanation.

One more of the kind

2. Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain quiescent in the earliest phases of an embryo's development.

(A) tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(B) tell individual genes both at which time they should become active and should remain
(C) tells individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(D) tells individual genes both when to activate and when to
(E) tell an individual gene both about when it should become active and when it should remain

Thanks in advance

1. .... the pattern ........... indicates ....... IMO D


2. one of the substances that tell ....... IMO A

For 1st, it says "the pattern of changes that have occurred ... indicates"

So it should be "indicates" and not "indicate". Now we are down to D and E.

The correct idioms are "X a descendant of Y" OR "X descend from Y". The second idiom is incorrectly used in E. So, we go for D with proper idiom.

For 2nd, it says "one of the substances that tell ...". So, eliminate C and D.

In B and D, they are wordier and there is no parallelism b/w items connected with "and". In A, it is short and maintains parallelism b/w items connected with "and".

papgust wrote:For 1st, it says "the pattern of changes that have occurred ... indicates"

So it should be "indicates" and not "indicate". Now we are down to D and E.

The correct idioms are "X a descendant of Y" OR "X descend from Y". The second idiom is incorrectly used in E. So, we go for D with proper idiom.

For 2nd, it says "one of the substances that tell ...". So, eliminate C and D.

In B and D, they are wordier and there is no parallelism b/w items connected with "and". In A, it is short and maintains parallelism b/w items connected with "and".

@pap

"one of the substances that tell"

I know for a fact that NONE, SOME, ALL,MOST,ANY (SANAM Pronouns) take the pronoun form of the descriptor (..."of...XXXX" construction)

But I believe

NOT ONE
ONE

take SINGULAR pronoun always

so,

NOT ONE OF THE POTENTIAL INVESTORS IS....
ONE OF THE SUBSTANCES THAT TELLS

or is it that "ONE OF THE SUBSTANCES THAT TELL " and THAT refers to SUBSTANCES,therefore we use TELL

@mmslf75, so the explanation given to 2nd one apllies to first as well "the pattern of changes that"- here that refers to changes rather than "pattern of changes" and hence it should be "indicate".Right?

the OAs given are 1st one -c and 2nd one A. Now the second one is clear from ur explanation but the first one i am not sure why it is C? Am I missing something which makes it better option?

asp_2010 wrote:@mmslf75, so the explanation given to 2nd one apllies to first as well "the pattern of changes that"- here that refers to changes rather than "pattern of changes" and hence it should be "indicate".Right?

the OAs given are 1st one -c and 2nd one A. Now the second one is clear from ur explanation but the first one i am not sure why it is C? Am I missing something which makes it better option?

Source ??

Ok, C may be a good contender here
A uses POSSIBLITY
so any option that uses POSSIBILITY and MAY together is worng
let;s dissect C

C says.
MAY .... has descended....
notice that it uses WHO HAD !!

present perfect and past perfect together huh ?!

The source is Brutal SCs from GMAT club. I searched in that forum for the explanation and got damn confused. The answer is given as C but the following is the discussion thread:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/according-to- ... 85387.html

Damn confused

Instructors please help...

asp_2010 wrote:The source is Brutal SCs from GMAT club. I searched in that forum for the explanation and got damn confused. The answer is given as C but the following is the discussion thread:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/according-to- ... 85387.html

Damn confused

Instructors please help...

Warning : GMATClub questions are not so good

I too had started doing them, experts guided me not to worry !!

To me, 1st one cannot be C. IMO D is the best of all.

@mmslf,

One will never always be singular. Here is the summary of proper constructions (I read this from one of Ron's posts),

One of X's <singular>
Only one of X's <singular>
One of X's that/who <plural>
Only one of X's that/who <plural>
The only one of X's that/who <singular>

Hope this summary helps you. It's worth memorizing if you find it difficult to remember.

papgust wrote:To me, 1st one cannot be C. IMO D is the best of all.

@mmslf,

One will never always be singular. Here is the summary of proper constructions (I read this from one of Ron's posts),

One of X's <singular>
Only one of X's <singular>
One of X's that/who <plural>
Only one of X's that/who <plural>
The only one of X's that/who <singular>

Hope this summary helps you. It's worth memorizing if you find it difficult to remember.

Oh did'nt know that, thanks man..

Secondly, how about the usage of NONE and NOT ONE

Thirdly, how about the usage of NO ONE

Fourthly, I guess the usage : The only one of X's that/who <singular>
Look wat Stacey says : https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sin ... t1400.html
>> A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keep (main subj=rate, main verb=was. THEN "one of the factors that keep" is a subordinate clause - the "that" indicates a noun modifier, so it refers to the noun right before it - "factors")

Do u think that The only one of X's that/who <singular> will be The only one of X's that/who <PLURAL>