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A number

by Soumita Ghosh » Sun Feb 10, 2013 9:57 pm
Joey Chestnut ate 6.2 hot dogs per minute when winning the 2011 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest; a number that far exceeds those that a normal person could consume.


A)far exceeds those that a normal person could consume
B)exceed by far what a normal person can consume
C)far exceed what a normal person is able to consume
D)exceeds by far what is able to be consumed by a normal person
E)far exceeds what a normal person could consume

OA E

I chose C. As a number represents plural noun. So there must be exceed instead exceeds. Am I wrong??
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by Tommy Wallach » Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:32 pm
Hey Soumita,

"Number" is complicated, because the plurality is based on whether the word number is the subject of the sentence, or the thing that comes after it. Watch:

The number of dogs is large.

In this sentence, we know that the subject is the word number. How? Because "is large" doesn't describe the dogs.

A great number of my friends are coming tonight.

In this sentence, we know that "friends" is the primary subject, because it doesn't make any sense for a number to be coming tonight.

In the sentence you posted, it is a NUMBER that can or cannot be exceeded. That means the word "number" is the subject, so it's singular, requiring "exceeds". It's also worth noting that, in this case, hot dogs aren't even in the clause in question (i.e. "A number of hot dogs..."), so there's really no reason to be fooled into picking the plural verb (even if it did say "A number of hot dogs," we would still need exceeds).

Hope that helps!

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by rajatvmittal » Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:52 am
Hi Tommy

Dont you think the sentence in the question is wronglly written.

Semi colon part. Whatever comes either before or after semi colon must be a sentence in itself.

In the above sentence, 'a number that....' is a noun+ noun modifier. So.....

In addition, i have got another question

A number is compared to what a normal man can eat.

Please tell me if i am reading too much between the lines or it is awkward.

thanks
Rajat
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by Tommy Wallach » Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:07 am
Hey Rajat,

Yes! Good spot! The semicolon part is totally wrong, so the question is incorrectly written.

Your second issue is also true, but only because of the location of the modifier. You could easily say:

The world record for hot dogs eaten in one minute stands at 82, a number that far exceeds what a normal person could consume.

Notice in this case that the modifier is actually on 82, so it's clear what's going on.

Great spot on the problems with this terribly written question. Soumita, where are you finding these? Might be best not to post them anymore.

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