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reality television shows

by ssgmatter » Sat Mar 20, 2010 10:33 pm
Out of the public's interest in the details of and conflicts in other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing "regular" people onto the television screen with increasing frequency.
(A) other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(B) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(C) another person's life has grown a booming market for a "reality" television show that is bringing
(D) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that is bringing
(E) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that bring

i got down to D and E....please explain what is the problem with E......that bring or that is bringing...

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by rockeyb » Sat Mar 20, 2010 10:47 pm
The sentence checks for subject verb agreement .

Subject : public's interest ( singular )

Need singular noun HAS and not HAVE .

(A) other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
[Need singular verb HAS , eliminate]
(B) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
[its the interest in these shows that brings regular people on the shows, need singular verb IS and not ARE]
(C) another person's life has grown a booming market for a "reality" television show that is bringing
[a "reality" television show , the sentence dose not talk of single show but a lot of shows , eliminate]
(D) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that is bringing
[correct]
(E) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that bring
[television shows that bring - BRING - verb is not an acting verb in this sentence . The television show is not bringing the people out but its the interest in these shows that brings regular people on the shows . The sentence needs an auxiliary verb IS and not ARE because subject is singular .]
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by harshavardhanc » Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:05 pm
ssgmatter wrote:Out of the public's interest in the details of and conflicts in other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing "regular" people onto the television screen with increasing frequency.
(A) other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(B) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(C) another person's life has grown a booming market for a "reality" television show that is bringing
(D) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that is bringing
(E) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that bring

i got down to D and E....please explain what is the problem with E......that bring or that is bringing...

Regards
Phil
you need to find out whether the subject is singular or plural. if the subject is plural, that bring can be correct.
because singular-subject brings

But,

if the subject is singular, is bringing will go fine with it. ;)
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by ssgmatter » Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:51 am
can you give me examples for showing that " that bring" is plural....
I am still not clear on this one...

Regards,
Phil
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by harshavardhanc » Sun Mar 21, 2010 5:23 am
ssgmatter wrote:can you give me examples for showing that " that bring" is plural....
I am still not clear on this one...

Regards,
Phil
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp& ... a33e2ff469
Regards,
Harsha
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by rockeyb » Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:11 am
harshavardhanc wrote:
ssgmatter wrote:Out of the public's interest in the details of and conflicts in other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing "regular" people onto the television screen with increasing frequency.
(A) other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(B) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(C) another person's life has grown a booming market for a "reality" television show that is bringing
(D) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that is bringing
(E) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that bring

i got down to D and E....please explain what is the problem with E......that bring or that is bringing...

Regards
Phil
you need to find out whether the subject is singular or plural. if the subject is plural, that bring can be correct.
because singular-subject brings

But,

if the subject is singular, is bringing will go fine with it. ;)
I have a question harsha .
"if the subject is plural, that bring can be correct. "
If the subject was plural will BRING be the acting verb in the sentence ?

And if that is the case the meaning changes to television shows BRING out the regular people and not the interest in the shows .

What do you think ?
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by beat_gmat_09 » Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:16 am
@ rockeyb

Please check your inbox, i need your help.
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by kstv » Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:52 am
Still feel B is a good option.
Out of the public's interest in the details of and conflicts in other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing "regular" people onto the television screen with increasing frequency.

(B) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing

The Public interest is creating a booming market for shows which inturn are bringing regular people. It is not the public interest which is directly bringing them to the show.
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by lunarpower » Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:13 am
ssgmatter wrote:Out of the public's interest in the details of and conflicts in other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing "regular" people onto the television screen with increasing frequency.
(A) other people's lives have grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(B) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that are bringing
(C) another person's life has grown a booming market for a "reality" television show that is bringing
(D) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that is bringing
(E) other people's lives has grown a booming market for "reality" television shows that bring

i got down to D and E....please explain what is the problem with E......that bring or that is bringing...

Regards
Phil
this is a rip-off of OG11 #116... and not a very good one. a legitimate case could be made for either (b) or (d).

here's the analysis:

1) THE SUBJECT OF "HAS/HAVE GROWN" IS "A BOOMING MARKET"
the entire cluster of words that precedes this verb is a prepositional phrase, and so can't contain the subject. therefore, this must be a reverse construction, in which the subject comes after the verb.
the subject is therefore "a booming market".

this is also the only subject that is reasonable in context -- nothing else in the sentence has "grown".)

therefore, the correct verb is "has".

simpler analogy:
on the table (is / are) two cell phones.
"on the table" isn't the subject (it's a prepositional phrase, so that's impossible). therefore, the subject, "two cell phones", FOLLOWS the verb. (the correct choice would be "are".)

--

2) THERE IS INSUFFICIENT CONTEXT TO DETERMINE THE SUBJECT OF "IS/ARE BRINGING"

...aaaaaaaannnnndd this is where we start to have a problem.

in the current context, BOTH of these are perfectly reasonable interpretations:

* the market (for reality tv shows) IS bringing people onto the screen increasingly frequently;
* the tv shows themselves ARE bringing people onto the screen increasingly frequently.

they're also both grammatical, since "that" modifiers have a certain degree of freedom in their application -- unlike "which" modifiers, they aren't constrained to modifying the closest noun. (see OG DIAGNOSTIC #50, in the 11th or 12th edition, for another example of a flexible "that" modifier.)

therefore, it is impossible to tell which of these is the intended subject -- both are reasonable in context -- and, therefore, it's impossible to determine whether the verb should be singular or plural.

therefore, either (b) or (d).

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what's the source of this question?
you would think that people who are essentially copying an OG problem, and substituting different words, could at least make a problem with only one correct answer.
heh.
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by tomada » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:28 pm
Hi Ron,

Why would choice (E) be eliminated? I know it's because "that bring" is used instead of "that is/are bringing", but why is "that bring" incorrect?
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by kevincanspain » Tue Mar 23, 2010 4:11 pm
I'm not Ron, but the market or television shows (is/are) bringing ... with increasing frequency is correct, since we are talking about an ongoing action: we need a continuous tense. Use of the simple tense would indicate that the market or television shows always or generally bring(s) people onto the screen with increasing frequency, changing the intended meaning of the sentence.

Natural disasters bring out the best in people. (an atemporal observation)
The earthquake in Haiti is bringing out the best in people (happening now).

Note that the distinction is much clearer in the original question, so I propose that you do the question below: if you still don't see why the continuous tense is preferred, let us know. This is another example of shoddy re-writes that obfuscate more than educate.





116. Out of America's fascination with all things antique have grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures that are bringing back the chaise lounge the overstuffed sofa, and the claw-footed bathtub.

(A) things antique have grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and
fixtures that are bringing
(B) things antique has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures
that is bringing
(C) things that are antiques has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and
fixtures that bring
(D) antique things have grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and
fixtures that are bringing
(E) antique things has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures
that bring.
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by tomada » Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:37 am
kevincanspain wrote:I'm not Ron, but the market or television shows (is/are) bringing ... with increasing frequency is correct, since we are talking about an ongoing action: we need a continuous tense. Use of the simple tense would indicate that the market or television shows always or generally bring(s) people onto the screen with increasing frequency, changing the intended meaning of the sentence.

Natural disasters bring out the best in people. (an atemporal observation)
The earthquake in Haiti is bringing out the best in people (happening now).

Note that the distinction is much clearer in the original question, so I propose that you do the question below: if you still don't see why the continuous tense is preferred, let us know. This is another example of shoddy re-writes that obfuscate more than educate.





116. Out of America's fascination with all things antique have grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures that are bringing back the chaise lounge the overstuffed sofa, and the claw-footed bathtub.

(A) things antique have grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and
fixtures that are bringing
(B) things antique has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures
that is bringing
(C) things that are antiques has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and
fixtures that bring
(D) antique things have grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and
fixtures that are bringing
(E) antique things has grown a market for bygone styles of furniture and fixtures
that bring.
Kevin, thank you for the reply. For the sample question you provided, is the answer (B)?
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by rockeyb » Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:03 am
tomada wrote:
Kevin, thank you for the reply. For the sample question you provided, is the answer (B)?
I am not Kevin but reading the discussion above I am sure the answer should be B .
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by tomada » Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:08 am
rockeyb wrote:
tomada wrote:
Kevin, thank you for the reply. For the sample question you provided, is the answer (B)?
I am not Kevin but reading the discussion above I am sure the answer should be B .
Thanks, Rockeyb!
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by tomada » Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:22 am
As I beat this beyond death...

If choice (B) is correct in the example given by Kevin, then I believe choice (D) would be the best answer for the "booming market for reality television shows" question.
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