Sentence Correction

One of every two new businesses fail within two years.
(A) fail
(B) fails
(C) should fail
(D) may have failed
(E) has failed


OA B

However, isnt there a rule that says one of + Plural = plural?

IMO B.

I don't think there is any such rule.

"One of .... " is a singular subject and takes a singular verb.

Ex: One of my colleagues is preparing with me for GMAT.

one of is singular

the rule is with some

some of my friends are ....
and
some of the money is

ah I see. Thanks for pointing that out

stop@800 wrote:one of is singular

the rule is with some

some of my friends are ....
and
some of the money is

There are other pronouns following the same rule as 'some'
Some, Any, None, All, Most
look for the 'of' constructions to decide on singular or plural.
eg: some of my friends are
some of the money is

Please review Manhattan SC for more rules.

sumithshah wrote:
However, isnt there a rule that says one of + Plural = plural?

you are partially correct.
X is One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + PLURAL VERB
if the stmt is
One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + SINGULAR VERB

Example:
One of the guys runs to work every day => one of the p.verb that s.verb
This is one of the cars that run on hydrogen => X is one of the p.verb that p.verb

hence b is the answer

anju wrote:

sumithshah wrote:
However, isnt there a rule that says one of + Plural = plural?

you are partially correct.
X is One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + PLURAL VERB
if the stmt is
One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + SINGULAR VERB

Example:
One of the guys runs to work every day => one of the p.verb that s.verb
This is one of the cars that run on hydrogen => X is one of the p.verb that p.verb

hence b is the answer

For the two examples you gave, my 2 cents:
1. "one of the guys" is singular and so the verb following it should be runs.
2. that is a noun modifier and so the verb following that should immediately be based upon the noun preceding that. In this case the noun is cars.. so the verb used is run.

anju wrote:

sumithshah wrote:
However, isnt there a rule that says one of + Plural = plural?

you are partially correct.
X is One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + PLURAL VERB
if the stmt is
One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + SINGULAR VERB

Example:
One of the guys runs to work every day => one of the p.verb that s.verb
This is one of the cars that run on hydrogen => X is one of the p.verb that p.verb

hence b is the answer

are these correct...any views?

I think above constructions are correct with the exception of one

One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + SINGULAR VERB

The bold part should be Plural Verb.

Here is simpler way to break it down.

One of the X - The verb following this construction will be always singular because "One of the X" is the subject, in simple words, the doer of the action

X is one of Y - the verb following this will depend on what X is- singular or plural.

Hence,

identify the subject - subject decides what will be what

parallel_chase wrote:I think above constructions are correct with the exception of one

One of the + PLURAL NOUN + that/who/ + SINGULAR VERB

The bold part should be Plural Verb.

Here is simpler way to break it down.

One of the X - The verb following this construction will be always singular because "One of the X" is the subject, in simple words, the doer of the action

X is one of Y - the verb following this will depend on what X is- singular or plural.

Hence,

identify the subject - subject decides what will be what

Can you give an example of "X is one of Y" form? As per my understanding in this form the verb following depends on Y and not on X since the form is X is one of the [Y that...].. so that refers to Y and not to X and hence the verb should be plural since Y will be plural. Pls. comment.

Thanks