gmatblood wrote:Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and two Whitbread Book of the Year awards.

A. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including
B. The number of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include
C. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won numbers of prizes for his work, including
D. The numbers of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include
E. Seamus Heaney's Irish poetry has won a number of prizes for him, including

B - Subject Ver mismatch
D - The NUMBERS incorrect
E - passive and changes the original meaning a bit

IMO A,

feel C could also correct but would like to understand difference btn 'numbers of prizes' and 'a number of prizes'

patanjali.purpose wrote: feel C could also correct but would like to understand difference btn 'numbers of prizes' and 'a number of prizes'

Officially usage of "numbers of prizes" is not wrong. I think we all might well aware of this.

However, in this case, If we use numbers of prizes, the emphasis might come on "numbers" instead of "Prizes"
See this example
Poet-1 5 prizes
poet-2 6 prizes
poet-3 10 prizes

We can say here as All three peots have varying numbers of prizes
Here the emphasis is on numbers not prizes.

satishchandra wrote:

patanjali.purpose wrote: feel C could also correct but would like to understand difference btn 'numbers of prizes' and 'a number of prizes'

Officially usage of "numbers of prizes" is not wrong. I think we all might well aware of this.

However, in this case, If we use numbers of prizes, the emphasis might come on "numbers" instead of "Prizes"
See this example
Poet-1 5 prizes
poet-2 6 prizes
poet-3 10 prizes

We can say here as All three peots have varying numbers of prizes
Here the emphasis is on numbers not prizes.

Thanks for emphasizing that 'numbers of..' not incorrect. I do not think I quite understand your explanation - could you pls try to explain more in detail. Also would you be able to clarify difference btn 'numbers of prizes' and 'a number of prizes'

gmatblood wrote:Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and two Whitbread Book of the Year awards.

A. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including
B. The number of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include
C. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won numbers of prizes for his work, including
D. The numbers of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include
E. Seamus Heaney's Irish poetry has won a number of prizes for him, including

+1 for A

patanjali.purpose wrote:I do not think I quite understand your explanation - could you pls try to explain more in detail. Also would you be able to clarify difference btn 'numbers of prizes' and 'a number of prizes'

Lets assume we have following numbers
Poet-1 5 prizes
poet-2 6 prizes
poet-3 10 prizes

Lets take up the sentence below

Among three numbers of prizes listed, poet-3 has highest number of prizes

Do you find any difference in 'numbers of prizes' and 'number of prizes' in the sentence?
Can we use 'number' instead of 'numbers'?
No we can't. The intended meaning will be lost if we do so.

WRONG WRONG!! IMO

gmatblood wrote:Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and two Whitbread Book of the Year awards.

A. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including - May be
B. The number of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include - This statement is talking about the number of prizes. So, the statement changes the meaning.
C. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won numbers of prizes for his work, including - This statement is talking about the numbers of prizes. So, the statement changes the meaning.
D. The numbers of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include - This statement is talking about the numbers of prizes. So, the statement changes the meaning.
E. Seamus Heaney's Irish poetry has won a number of prizes for him, includingThis statement is talking about the prizes won by his poetry. So, the statement changes the meaning a little.

IMO A - Reasons in Red and Green

I went with A originally but went to E, since my MGMAT instructor mentioned "attributed with" is preferred as opposed to "attributed for."

gmatblood wrote:Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and two Whitebread Book of the Year awards.

A. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won a number of prizes for his work, including
B. The number of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include
C. Irish poet Seamus Heaney has won numbers of prizes for his work, including
D. The numbers of prizes won by Irish poet Seamus Heaney include
E. Seamus Heaney's Irish poetry has won a number of prizes for him, including

Please note the following distinction:
A NUMBER means NUMEROUS.
THE NUMBER, THE NUMBERS, and NUMBERS refer to ACTUAL NUMBERS (such as 5, 127, etc.)

In B, the number (singular) does not agree with include (plural). Eliminate B.

In C, NUMBERS of prizes refers -- strangely -- not to the prizes themselves but to the ACTUAL NUMBERS associated with these prizes. The intended meaning of the sentence is that Seamus Heaney has won A NUMBER of prizes (meaning NUMEROUS prizes). Eliminate C.

In D, the numbers (meaning ACTUAL NUMBERS) cannot include the Nobel Prize and two Book of the Year awards. Eliminate D.

In E, him (an object pronoun) cannot be used to replace Seamus Heaney's (an adjective modifying Irish poetry). Only a NOUN (or a subject pronoun, such as HE) can serve as the antecedent of an object pronoun. Eliminate E.

The correct answer is A.

In A, Seamus Heaney has won A NUMBER of prizes means that the poet has won NUMEROUS prizes.