BellTheGMAT wrote:Ques - The majority of patrons of the local library, though enthusiastic about a new book mobile service, is unable, or either unwilling , to volunteer time to staff it.
A. is unable, or either unwilling
B. is either unable or unwilling
C. are unable, or either unwilling
D. are either unable or unwilling
E. are unable or unwilling, either way
OA after some ddiscussion...
Is "Majority of Patrons" singular or plural?
Words such as majority and minority can be either singular or plural dependent on how they are used. If we need to emphasize on individual items of the group, then they are considered plural. If we need to emphasize on the total nature of the group, then they are considered singular.
The majority of people have cast their votes. - PLURAL
In the jury, majority has voted against the defendant. - SINGULAR
On these lines, in the context of this sentence, majority is plural since we are focusing on the individual people in the group.
That being said, I do not believe this is a frequently tested topic. In OG12, only question 82 uses the word majority and that too in the non-underlined portion of the sentence and that too not as a subject. If we consider CR sentences as any indication of what GMAT considers correct and incorrect, then there are two questions in which majority is used and in both occurrences it is used as plural - Q 109 and 117.
In summary, majority can be either be singular or plural, depending on the context. And these terms are not tested frequently.
