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SC plurality of "None' :Manhattan/Kaplan differ!

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SC plurality of "None' :Manhattan/Kaplan differ!

by vineeshp » Tue Jun 01, 2010 11:04 pm
Hi,

I am using Manhattan GMAT SC Guide (A great book for SC with a particular focus on GMAT). As per the chapter on Subject very number agreement, None is part of the SANAM group of indefinite pronouns and takes the number as per the Of-Prepositional phrase.

Yesterday I stumbled upon the Kaplan GMAT 800 Advanced prep book. I saw that there is a question on None. It said None of the students have been able to in the question. and the correct answer choice selects the answer choice with "none of the students has".

I am totally confused because both Kaplan and Manhattan are experts in the field.

What am I missing? Can someone help me?

Thanks in advance!
With regards,
Vineesh
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:13 am
vineeshp

manhattan and kaplan both have different opinion on " none"

if u follow manhattan then " none of the students have" will be correct.

manhattan says either it may take singular or plural with plural noun.
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by vineeshp » Wed Jun 02, 2010 3:20 am
Yes I agree that is what I want to know. What does GMAT think?
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:35 am
I used to teach for MGMAT, so I'm familiar with how we taught this property. I wasn't aware of Kaplan's take. Although I'm biased toward my previous employer :-), I will present an objective view:

Grammatically there are 2 options:

1) When None is paired with a plural prepositional phrase (if you can say "none of them"), it can be treated either as singular or as plural as long as this treatment is consistent throughout the sentence; this is up to the author's preference and it cannot be the only split between a right and wrong answer on the GMAT. Both of the following are correct:
  • None of the children want to leave.
  • None of the children wants to leave.
2) When None is paired with a singular prepositional phrase (if you can say "none of it"), it is always a singular construct. "None of the oil has leaked" is correct. "None of the oil have leaked" cannot be correct.

Don't take my word for it; consider how the GMAT treats this issue:
OG12 SC #4. The correct answer says: "Of all the tides that have swept through history, none was more concentrated..." In this case we're dealing with "none of the tides"; the object of the prepositional phrase is plural. The right answer pairs this subject with a singular verb "was". This shows that GMAC (owners of the GMAT) find "none of them" as an acceptable singular pronoun.

OG12 SC #22. The correct answer says: "None of the attempts explains..." This corroborates the previous point: although the object of the preposition is the plural "attempts", the right answer treats "none" as a singular pronoun.

Hope that helps,
-Patrick
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by Mylogin » Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:51 am
Thanks, that was useful.

Does this means that GMAC treats "None" as singular?

(I am being lazy here) Is there any example in OG/GMATprep where None is taken as plural?
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:56 am
Mylogin wrote:Is there any example in OG/GMATprep where None is taken as plural?
Can't answer that. I haven't checked every OG and GMATPrep question that I have access to.
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by vineeshp » Wed Jun 02, 2010 8:23 pm
Thanks for your wonderful insight Patrick.

GMAC's view is all that matters on test day. So While I do plan to treat the issue as seen in these OG questions mentioned by Patrick, I am also hoping this does not become a make or break for any question on my test day.
Vineesh,
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:10 pm
vineeshp wrote:Thanks for your wonderful insight Patrick.

GMAC's view is all that matters on test day. So While I do plan to treat the issue as seen in these OG questions mentioned by Patrick, I am also hoping this does not become a make or break for any question on my test day.
You're welcome
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by vineeshp » Wed Jun 02, 2010 10:13 pm
Patrick, just one question not connected to this. You have score 790. Have you written a debrief about this?
Vineesh,
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by Patrick_GMATFix » Thu Jun 03, 2010 12:34 am
vineeshp wrote:Patrick, just one question not connected to this. You have score 790. Have you written a debrief about this?
I have not; if I did it would be a GMATFix commercial :-) Basically my approach is to master as much of the official questions as possible (OGs & GMATPrep) because these are written by the people who will write your GMAT questions. So when I work with client, that's what I aim to achieve. I developed the GMATFix products with the goal of getting more out of the OG and GMATPrep. Like most people here, I also like Manhattan GMAT's SC guides

-Patrick
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