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venmic: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 222; Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:04 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 3 times

by venmic » Sat May 07, 2011 10:38 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.
"¢ keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did
"¢ keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
"¢ keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
"¢ keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like
"¢ keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did

Probable answer :B

Please can anyone provide an explanation as to why it is B

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat May 07, 2011 10:38 pm

Target2009: Legendary Member; Posts: 574; Joined: Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:47 pmFollowed by: 5 members; Location: USA; Thanked: 29 times

by Target2009 » Sat May 07, 2011 10:49 pm

venmic wrote: Probable answer :B
Please can anyone provide an explanation as to why it is B

IMO : B

Rule: one of the + plural noun + who/which/that
Whenever we see this structure, we have to make sure that the following verb is Plural.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Abhishek
------------------------------
MasterGmat Student

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gsinghal: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 68; Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2010 3:22 amFollowed by: 1 member

by gsinghal » Sat May 07, 2011 11:13 pm

One more point to add, since we are comparing clauses here, as is good to go rather than like.

Thanks
Gautam

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AIM GMAT: Legendary Member; Posts: 857; Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:36 amFollowed by: 15 members; Thanked: 56 times

by AIM GMAT » Sat May 07, 2011 11:27 pm

Two issues :-
1] Singular vs Plural
2] Like vs As

IMO B .

The below is in short collection of such rules that might help :-

One of the Xs + <singular>
One of the Xs that/who + <plural>
Only of the Xs + <singular>
Only one of the Xs that/who + <plural>
The only of the Xs that/who + <plural>

Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Sun May 08, 2011 1:37 am

venmic wrote: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.
"¢ keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did
"¢ keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
"¢ keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
"¢ keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like
"¢ keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did

Probable answer :B

Please can anyone provide an explanation as to why it is B

This question, in my opinion, tests the usage of relative pronoun that.

Whenever, we see a relative pronoun, it modifies the noun that preceeds it, which in this case is factors.

Since factors is plural it needs a plural verb, which is keep and not keeps.

Thus, A and C could not be the answers.

Second split that I see is, usage of like v/s usage of as.

Like is used to compare nouns and as is used to compare clauses.

Since we are comparing clauses here, we should use 'as' instead of 'like'.

D,E both use like to compare.

Thus B.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Pranay

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bubbliiiiiiii: Legendary Member; Posts: 979; Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:38 amFollowed by: 12 members; Location: Hyderabad, India; Thanked: 49 times; GMAT Score:700

by bubbliiiiiiii » Sun May 08, 2011 1:40 am

Rule: one of the + plural noun + who/which/that
Whenever we see this structure, we have to make sure that the following verb is Plural.

Lets generalize this,

plural noun + who/which/that => following verb is plural
singular noun + who/which/that => following verb is singular

Regards,

Pranay

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atulmangal: Legendary Member; Posts: 1112; Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:16 amFollowed by: 49 members; Thanked: 77 times

by atulmangal » Sun May 08, 2011 4:58 am

AIM GMAT wrote:Two issues :-
1] Singular vs Plural
2] Like vs As

IMO B .

The below is in short collection of such rules that might help :-

One of the Xs + <singular>
One of the Xs that/who + <plural>
Only of the Xs + <singular>
Only one of the Xs that/who + <plural>
The only of the Xs that/who + <plural>

small correction brother

The only of the Xs that/who + <plural>

The only one of the Xs that/who + <Singular>

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abhi0697: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 57; Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:39 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Singapore; Thanked: 6 times

by abhi0697 » Sun May 08, 2011 7:50 pm

I agree on:
The only one of the Xs that/who + <Singular>

As here, with the presence of "only", the stress is on "one" and not "factors".
Hence, the following verb will be Singular "keeps"

So correct answer should be C

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atulmangal: Legendary Member; Posts: 1112; Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 11:16 amFollowed by: 49 members; Thanked: 77 times

by atulmangal » Sun May 08, 2011 8:22 pm

abhi0697 wrote:I agree on:
The only one of the Xs that/who + <Singular>

As here, with the presence of "only", the stress is on "one" and not "factors".
Hence, the following verb will be Singular "keeps"

So correct answer should be C

Only one of the Xs that/who + <Plural>

THE Only one of the Xs that/who + <Singular>

OA should be Op B only

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AIM GMAT: Legendary Member; Posts: 857; Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 1:36 amFollowed by: 15 members; Thanked: 56 times

by AIM GMAT » Sun May 08, 2011 9:23 pm

atulmangal wrote:
AIM GMAT wrote:Two issues :-
1] Singular vs Plural
2] Like vs As

IMO B .

The below is in short collection of such rules that might help :-

One of the Xs + <singular>
One of the Xs that/who + <plural>
Only of the Xs + <singular>
Only one of the Xs that/who + <plural>
The only of the Xs that/who + <plural>
small correction brother

The only of the Xs that/who + <plural>
The only one of the Xs that/who + <Singular>

Thanks a ton Atul , i made correction in my notes

Thanks & Regards,
AIM GMAT

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