This is an odd one, but it made sense to me once I thought about it for a minute. Collectively, the papers are a "strong defense," i.e. a single unit. However, the rest of the sentence describes them as the "handiwork of three different authors." Thus, there must be more than one, so we use the plural verb "represent."

I thought sentence intends to refer to handiwork of 3 different authors as a collective entity and that is why "a strong defense ..." is mentioned and hence the need for singular verb

Straight B

The Federalist papers, a strong defense of the US constitution and important as a body of work in political science as well,represents the handiwork of three different authors.

a. and important as a body of work in political science as well, represents

b. as well as an important body of work in political science, represent

c. and also a body of work of importance in political science is representing

d. an important body of work in political science and has been representative of

e. and as political science an important bod of work too, represent



The OA is a straight B. No need to think on this so much...

Option A: Uses the incorrect verb form...

Option C: No need for a 'present continuous tense' when a simple present tense is sufficed.

Option D: Completely wrong and awkward. Imprecise construction and wordy as well...

Option E: Somewhere changes the meaning of the sentence. Option B is the perfect sentence.

Hence B.

Hope this helps...

vikram4689 wrote:I thought sentence intends to refer to handiwork of 3 different authors as a collective entity and that is why "a strong defense ..." is mentioned and hence the need for singular verb

They have a collective effect, but they are still individual papers.

vikram4689 wrote:The Federalist papers, a strong defense of the US constitution and important as a body of work in political science as well,represents the handiwork of three different authors.

a. and important as a body of work in political science as well, represents

b. as well as an important body of work in political science, represent

c. and also a body of work of importance in political science is representing

d. an important body of work in political science and has been representative of

e. and as political science an important bod of work too, represent


In OA=B, papers is modified as "a strong defense..." which means papers is referred as a collection and hence singular but why are we using plural verb "represent". How can same noun "papers" act as singular and plural in same sentence

C - multiple issues (1) the federalist papers ACT as a modifier to A STRONG DEFENSE (as there is no 2ND COMMA in the sentence); (2) subject of IS REPRESENTING is now (A STRONG DEFENCE and A BODY)...so we need ARE; (3) changes the original meaning completely; (4) awkward (OF WORK OF IMPORTANCE)

D - this sentence is a fragment (what is the subject of HAS BEEN); (2) we do not know what is the main verb

A - (1) we need an article before IMPORTANT; (2) Parts connected by AND are not parallel; (3) subject of the main verb REPRESENTS is PAPERS, so we need PLURAL VERB; (4) it appears that PAPERS, A IMPORTANT AS A BODY OF WORK - it means PAPERS are A IMPORTANT (does not make sense). Furthermore, AS A BODY OF WORK means IMPORANT is ACTUALLY a body of work (does not make sense)

E - parts connected with AND are not parallel

IMO B

Bill,

I know E is wrong because of the parallelism error but I thought there is a second error. Isn't E redundant as well? => ...and...too,...

Thanks!