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Majority of Patrons

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Majority of Patrons

by BellTheGMAT » Sat Nov 20, 2010 10:53 pm
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?
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by gmat_perfect » Sun Nov 21, 2010 3:28 am
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?
Majority of X

If X is singular, the verb will be singular.
If X is plural, the verb will be plural.
---> This eliminates A and B.

Either X or Y is the correct idiom. X and Y MUST be grammatically parallel.
--> This kills C and E.

Answer is D.
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by Jim@Grockit » Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:51 pm
I think "majority" might be the worst word on the GMAT. It is a singular noun denoting a group of individuals. The default on the GMAT is to treat collective nouns as singular. Some thoughts:

1. British usage is generally the other way, to extremes that would look like proofreading errors to American audiences (Oxford were pleased with their performance in the match)
2. Real-life American English, even formal AE, allows for both. You can say The Miami Heat are playing well this year or The Miami Heat is destined for a championship. Usage depends on whether you really want to emphasize the individuals.
3. I am not actually a Miami Heat fan, I just picked the team because the name is a singular collective noun.
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by BellTheGMAT » Mon Nov 22, 2010 1:07 am
Jim@Grockit wrote:I think "majority" might be the worst word on the GMAT. It is a singular noun denoting a group of individuals. The default on the GMAT is to treat collective nouns as singular. Some thoughts:

1. British usage is generally the other way, to extremes that would look like proofreading errors to American audiences (Oxford were pleased with their performance in the match)
2. Real-life American English, even formal AE, allows for both. You can say The Miami Heat are playing well this year or The Miami Heat is destined for a championship. Usage depends on whether you really want to emphasize the individuals.
3. I am not actually a Miami Heat fan, I just picked the team because the name is a singular collective noun.
I think you are right .... Over here, collection is treated as singular

Ques - Though her collection of antique typewriters was quite extensive, Zoe had found that she had to spend very little time maintaining it.
A - Zoe had found that she had to spend very little time maintaining it
B - Zoe found that she had to spend very little time maintaining them
C - Zoe has found that she has had to spend very little time maintaining it
D - Zoe had found that she has to spend very little time maintaining them
E - Zoe found that she had to spend very little time maintaining it
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by e-GMAT » Mon Nov 22, 2010 4:13 pm
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.
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