BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Kap 800 Question

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 184
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2010 9:57 pm
Thanked: 1 times
Followed by:5 members
GMAT Score:700

Kap 800 Question

by chaitanya.mehrotra » Sun Aug 07, 2011 4:03 am
It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.

(a) It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(b) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
(c) They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(d) The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
(e) The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what

OA A
How come WAS being singular is still correct with plural anomalies ?
Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Legendary Member
Posts: 2789
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 am
Location: Chennai, India
Thanked: 206 times
Followed by:43 members
GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:39 pm
chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.

(a) It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(b) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
(c) They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(d) The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
(e) The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what

OA A
How come WAS being singular is still correct with plural anomalies ?
anomalies is a state, means deviations/abnormal which is singular. Hence A is correct

Hope it helps.

Regards,
GK
Top
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 217
Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 9:42 pm
Thanked: 8 times
Followed by:2 members

by garima99 » Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:42 pm
chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that led to the discovery of Neptune.

(a) It was anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(b) It was the orbit of Uranus showing anomalies that
(c) They were anomalies in the orbit of Uranus that
(d) The orbit of Uranus being anomalous was what
(e) The anomalies in the orbit of Uranus was what

OA A
How come WAS being singular is still correct with plural anomalies ?
uncountable nouns are always singular...
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 344
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:40 am
Thanked: 28 times
Followed by:3 members
GMAT Score:700

by sunnyjohn » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:33 am
@chaitanya.mehrotra

anomalies is indeed PLURAL.
Anomaly is singular.

The key to solve this question is non-lined part.

1) that led to the discovery of Neptune. [led] is plural so this means that must be modifying a plural noun.
2) Normally 'that' modifies the previous immediate noun but there is an exception to this rule.
3) if I write - It was anomalies that led to discovery of neptunes in the uranus. This look stupid. we need to specify "which anomalies" thats why
it was anomalies in the uranus that led to discovery of Neptune.
4) "it" is auxilliary subject which is singular, hence "It was".
5) Overall "it (subject) was(verb) anomalies(object) ....(modifier)".

Hope it helps.
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1