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

Redeem

The list of animals -> singular or plural

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 89
Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:36 am
Thanked: 10 times
Followed by:1 members

The list of animals -> singular or plural

by killerdrummer » Sun Apr 28, 2013 8:31 am
The list of animals that exhibits/exhibit a preference of either X or Y has been expanded to include blah blah blah..


As far as i know The list of is singular, so the corresponding verb, which in this case is "exhibits", should be singular too.However, the OA use exhibit as verb.

Seek your inputs!

Top
Source: — Sentence Correction |
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:14 am
Location: Global
Thanked: 8 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:790

by Ben.Miller@ApexGMAT » Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:52 am
The list is not what is doing the exhibiting, it is the animals, so the subject of the verb is plural, hence exhibit.

You can always ask yourself: What is doing the ____? in this case, exhibiting, to figure out what the verb's subject is.
Ben Miller
Senior Instructor
Chief Curriculum Developer
ApexGMAT
[email protected]
Top
User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2193
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pm
Location: Vermont and Boston, MA
Thanked: 1186 times
Followed by:512 members
GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Mon Apr 29, 2013 5:29 pm
the word "that" indicates a relative clause. That clause modifies the closest prior noun. So it is the animals that exhibit a preference...

The main verb is "has been expanded" and this is what corresponds to the subject "the list"

So that we have "The list is expanding" but "animals exhibit a preference."
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

Veritas Prep Reviews
Save $100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course
Top
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:59 am

by skm » Mon Apr 29, 2013 6:23 pm
hi david

sorry to bug you....have sent a pm.

thx
Top
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1