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Subject phrases and Clauses: always singular?

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Subject phrases and Clauses: always singular?

by aippingw » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:22 am
Hey guys if you could help me with this one I would really appreciate it.

Rising inventories, when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead to production cutbacks that would hamper economic growth.

A - when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead
B - when not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, possibly leads
C - when they were unaccompanied by corresponding by sales increases, can lead
D - if not accompanied by correspondingly increased sales, possibly leads
E - if not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, can lead















Correct answer is E
I get why the correct answer is this own. However, I am confused with the explanation of the OG that says that "lead" should refer to inventories and therefore we should eliminate B and D. Even though B and D can be eliminated for other reasons I don't understand the OG argument because I just read in the MGMAT SC that "subject phrases and clauses should always be singular"
eg: Having good friends IS a wonderful thing.

Does someone have an explanation.

Also, the OG argues that you should avoid "unaccompanied" and use "not accompanied" instead because it expresses more effectively the negation. Does that mean that we should ALWAYS prefer "Not something" instead of "un-something" or this argument was arbitrary.

Thanks for your help!
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by uwhusky » Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:55 am
I am on short time, so I have to be brief on this one.

I think your confusion is between "can lead" and "leads." "Can" is a modal verb, and it is part of the main verb constituent. Since "can" is the first word of the main verb constituent, it is the only one that shows tense. In this case, because "can" has only one form for both singular and non-singular, it is simply "can." So you're right, "Rising inventories" is indeed singular, and the explanation isn't saying that it isn't.
Yep.
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by Jim@Grockit » Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:24 pm
aippingw wrote:Hey guys if you could help me with this one I would really appreciate it.

Rising inventories, when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead to production cutbacks that would hamper economic growth.

A - when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead
B - when not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, possibly leads
C - when they were unaccompanied by corresponding by sales increases, can lead
D - if not accompanied by correspondingly increased sales, possibly leads
E - if not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, can lead















Correct answer is E
I get why the correct answer is this own. However, I am confused with the explanation of the OG that says that "lead" should refer to inventories and therefore we should eliminate B and D. Even though B and D can be eliminated for other reasons I don't understand the OG argument because I just read in the MGMAT SC that "subject phrases and clauses should always be singular"
eg: Having good friends IS a wonderful thing.

Does someone have an explanation.

Also, the OG argues that you should avoid "unaccompanied" and use "not accompanied" instead because it expresses more effectively the negation. Does that mean that we should ALWAYS prefer "Not something" instead of "un-something" or this argument was arbitrary.

Thanks for your help!
"Rising inventories" is a plural, just as "inventories" on its own would be. "Rising" is just a participle (verbal adjective), which for our purposes means it's just an adjective -- "cars" doesn't suddenly become singular if we put "yellow" in front of it.

The other example you gave -- "having good friends is a wonderful thing" is different because "having" is a gerund (verbal noun), not a participle (verbal adjective). You can use gerunds that don't have objects ("Running is fun!") and gerunds that do have objects ("Running circles around your opponents is fun!"), and in every case it's singular. Note that you COULD have "Running and jumping ARE both fun".
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by Jim@Grockit » Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:31 pm
Forgot about "unaccompanied" being worse than "not accompanied" . . .

Go with what the OG says for the GMAT and then ignore that rule for the rest of your life. I can't speak for the entire English-speaking universe, but I've never, ever heard that rule before, except with "inflammable", because it actually means "able to be inflamed" rather than "not flammable."
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by aippingw » Mon Nov 15, 2010 7:29 am
Hey Jim,

Thanks a lot for your response. I understand it much more now. As a non native English speaker, I considered V-ing only as gerund. I forgot that it could also be an adjective. It makes a lot more sense now! Great explanation!
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by mundasingh123 » Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:28 pm
snipped --------------------
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by nitin9003 » Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:36 am
Whats the answer for this question ????

Is it E.
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by MAAJ » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:03 am
Nice! had the same doubt. BTW answer is (E); it's in White color.

On the other hand... Are "X possibly leads to Y" and "X leads possibly to Y" correct expressions?

I know that "X leads to possibly Y" is wrong, but I'm not completely sure about "X leads to Y possibly"

Can someone give me a hand on this?

From Manhattan Review: "Do avoid inserting a word or a phrase between the to and the verb in the infinitive form. This error is known as a split infinitive. Wrong: I asked him to quickly clean the table. Correct: I asked him to clean the table quickly."
"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results."
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by MAAJ » Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:25 am
Anybody? Anyone?
"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results."
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by gmat_perfect » Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:01 am
Rising inventories, when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead to production cutbacks that would hamper economic growth.

A - when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales, can lead
B - when not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, possibly leads
C - when they were unaccompanied by corresponding by sales increases, can lead
D - if not accompanied by correspondingly increased sales, possibly leads
E - if not accompanied by corresponding increases in sales, can lead

Let me explain in your language:

First eliminate the non-essential modifier, "when unaccompanied correspondingly by increases in sales".

We get the following skeleton of the sentence:

Rising inventories can lead.

Here, Subject ="Rising inventories", which is plural.

Example:

Bad boys=PLURAL
Walking sticks =PLURAL, and in the same way "rising inventories" is PLURAL.

Second: Look at the options:

B. Rising inventories possibly leads.

--> Look, PLURAL SUBJECT but SINGULAR VERB. ==> Eliminate B.

D. it has the same problem as it is in B.

C. "sales increases" has a problem. Increase in sales---> Means volume of sales increases. "Sales increases" is not correct. Eliminate C.

Unaccompanied Vs not accompanied:

Not accompanied is more formal than "unaccompanied". Eliminate A.

Answer is thus E.
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by TOPGMAT » Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:01 am
uwhusky,
I have seen you active since a long time and your posts are good.
Just curious to know your latest GMAT score.
I got 680 on my first attempt, looking forward to score at least a 720-750

Cheers,
TOPGMAT
Never mind what others do; do better than yourself, beat your own record from day to day and you are a success - William Boetcker
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by [email protected] » Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:22 am
My answer is "E".
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by nityag » Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:46 am
Its E.

A) awkward- correspondongly increases.
B) rising inventories - plural ... need Lead not leads
C)awkward
D) leads again ruled out.
E) concise and correct usage- lead, and corresponding increases, if not accompanied better than when unaccompanied
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by immaculatesahai » Mon Dec 19, 2011 11:49 pm
E it is. Since explanations are already given for the inquiry, I dont think I have much to add on that front.
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by ArunangsuSahu » Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:19 am
(E)
Unaccompanied and possibly leads to are wrong
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