Sentence Correction

Page 46,of the MGMAT SC guide:

The words MAJORITY,MINORITY & PLURALITY are either singular or plural,depending on their context.If you want to indicate the many individual parts of the totality,use a plural verb.

Example 1 :The majority of the students in this class ARE hard workers

If you want to indicate the totality itself,then use a singular verb form.

Example 2 :In the senate,the majority HAS coalesced into a unified voting block.

Here's another example that contradicts example one even though both seem to be similar in nature,yet they tend to have different plural forms.

Example 3:A majority of voters is opposed to the current policy.

Why do we use a singular verb 'is' here?Why cant 'are' fit in just like the example 1 above?

Look at the following examples too

A high percentage of the population is educated.

A high percentage of the people are happy.

In the above two examples population and people are collective nouns,yet the plural verb 'are' is used in the second sentence.

Or since 'High percentage' indicates a number/fraction if we look at it in terms of the 'of-prepositional phrase' strategy that we use in cases of SANAM:

'of the population' and 'of the people'

How do we decide on the singular/plural aspect in the above two sentences?Whether we use the Collective nouns strategy,or the Quantities or Parts strategy involving the 'of-prepositional phrase',either of them make it difficult to understand.

The majority of Congress has voted for the bill.

The majority of Senators have voted favorably.

Here I dont understand why the has vs have?Can you please tell me the underlying theory that could help in clearing all the above doubts?

Alternately,please do provide your opinion on another post of mine that has gone unnoticed,I need some help on those too and Im extremely thankful if anyone could provide insights into the underlying theories there.

Here's the link to it.Its about repeating and not repeating subordinators etc.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/help-manhatt ... tml#713611

Thanks

Dan

Thank you so much Ceilidh,really appreciate your help

ceilidh.erickson wrote:The differences in these examples largely have to do with subtle differences in meaning. As the guide says, using the singular emphasizes the totality, whereas the plural emphasizes the individual parts.

Thus,
A majority of voters is opposed to the current policy
and
A majority of voters are opposed to the current policy.
would both be correct, but would just have subtly different meanings.

Because this is an issue of meaning rather than grammar, it is highly unlikely that the GMAT will ever test it directly - just know that neither one is necessarily wrong.

A high percentage of the population is educated.

A high percentage of the people are happy.

In the above two examples population and people are collective nouns,yet the plural verb 'are' is used in the second sentence.

The issue here is that although "population" and "people" are both collective nouns, we use "people" in the plural: people are nice, not people is nice.

The singular-plural is determined by the "of prepositional phrase," as you mentioned.

Ditto with:

The majority of Congress has voted for the bill.

The majority of Senators have voted favorably.

Congress is singular; Senators are plural.

Does that help?