Although women’s wages are improving, Department

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Although women's wages are improving, Department of Labor statistics show that the ratio of their earnings with that of men have been roughly static since 1960.

A. with that of men have been
B. to that of men are
C. to those of men have been
D. with those of men is
E. to those of men has been

[spoiler]OA: B vs E. Which one is better and why???? Please support your choice with reason[/spoiler]
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by Ozlemg » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:48 am
For me E is better.

men's earnings are compared with women's. SO that of is wrong, it has to be plural.
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by Frankenstein » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:01 am
Hi,
to that of men are
to those of men has been
ratio of their earnings..earnings is plural. So, those is correct and ratio is singular. So, 'has been' singular+present perfect(ratio started to be static in the past and continues).
C is actually closer than B. But, it uses plural verb 'have been'. So, C is out

Hence, E
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by smackmartine » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:27 am
IMO E

Ratio is singular.

A. with that of men have been
B. to that of men are (Ratio is singular)
C. to those of men have been (Ratio is singular)
D. with those of men is
E. to those of men has been

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by atulmangal » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:13 pm
IMO E

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by atulmangal » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:21 pm
@smackmartine and @Frankenstein

guys can u help me in revising a basic concept...just want to be sure and don't wanna confuse in exam.

for countable we take plural verb right? and for uncountable we take singular.

now, in cases of X% of Y, the below sentence are correct or not

5% of sugar .... singular verb

5% of voters.... plural

5% of population....here i think population is considered as uncountable and take singular verb...right???

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by smackmartine » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:37 pm
atulmangal wrote:@smackmartine and @Frankenstein

guys can u help me in revising a basic concept...just want to be sure and don't wanna confuse in exam.

for countable we take plural verb right? and for uncountable we take singular.

now, in cases of X% of Y, the below sentence are correct or not

5% of sugar .... singular verb

5% of voters.... plural

5% of population....here i think population is considered as uncountable and take singular verb...right???
Atual,

You are correct on all three sentences.

Wherever the sentence describe A PORTION OF X , the verb always depends on subject X (i.e of part of prepositional phrase).

As far as X being countable or uncountable is concerned, you are correct again.

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by atulmangal » Wed Jun 08, 2011 7:51 pm
smackmartine wrote:
atulmangal wrote:@smackmartine and @Frankenstein

guys can u help me in revising a basic concept...just want to be sure and don't wanna confuse in exam.

for countable we take plural verb right? and for uncountable we take singular.

now, in cases of X% of Y, the below sentence are correct or not

5% of sugar .... singular verb

5% of voters.... plural

5% of population....here i think population is considered as uncountable and take singular verb...right???
Atual,

You are correct on all three sentences.

Wherever the sentence describe A PORTION OF X , the verb always depends on subject X (i.e of part of prepositional phrase).

As far as X being countable or uncountable is concerned, you are correct again.
Thanks for prompt reply...please share your views on this one, this is again an important an confusing concept...here is the link

https://www.beatthegmat.com/a-question-a ... 84772.html

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by bblast » Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:21 pm
atul for this sc there are simply two things to get to the answer :

1>ratio of X to Y and not ratio of X with Y.
2>the ratio being singular thus has
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by atulmangal » Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:30 pm
bblast wrote:atul for this sc there are simply two things to get to the answer :

1>ratio of X to Y and not ratio of X with Y.
2>the ratio being singular thus has
Hey brother,

i pick Op E on the basis of this same reasoning, but i thought to get clarity on other concepts too so posted the same in this same thread rather than posting them as a new separate topic.

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by Shifa@CrackVerbal » Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:27 pm
aspirant2011 wrote:Although women's wages are improving, Department of Labor statistics show that the ratio of their earnings with that of men have been roughly static since 1960.

A. with that of men have been
B. to that of men are
C. to those of men have been
D. with those of men is
E. to those of men has been

[spoiler]OA: B vs E. Which one is better and why???? Please support your choice with reason[/spoiler]
This question mainly tests two concepts :-
1. Singular vs Plural
2. 'Ratio of A to B' vs 'Ratio of A with B'

Since we are speaking about the ration of plural objects i.e. earnings, we can eliminate options A & B since they use 'that' which is singular.
By applying the idiom 'Ratio of A to B' we can eliminate option D.
Between C & E, we can eliminate C, since it is incorrect on the basis of Subject-verb agreement. The subject 'ratio' is singular and hence, the verb too has to be singular. This leaves us with E.

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by aspirant2011 » Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 am
thanks guys.........yup the OA is E :-)

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