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naaga: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 129; Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:43 pm; Location: Hyderabad; Thanked: 2 times

by naaga » Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:41 pm

ï¼—ï¼Ž A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

a) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.
b) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
c) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
d) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like earlier in the decade
e) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade

the OA B, how it is B, the subject is singular here, why not

C

anyone please explain

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:41 pm

gmat_perfect: Legendary Member; Posts: 1083; Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:38 pmFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 127 times

by gmat_perfect » Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:21 pm

naaga wrote:ï¼—ï¼Ž A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

a) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.
b) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
c) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
d) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like earlier in the decade
e) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade

the OA B, how it is B, the subject is singular here, why not

C anyone please explain

You may forgot the rule of ONE OF:

I ma just helping you to remember the rules:

1. ONE OF THE + PLURAL NOUN/PRONOUN + THAT/WHO + PLURAL VERB.

He is one of the players who have won the golden boats.

--> This means that there are some players who have won the golden boats. We are talking one of them.

2. ONLY ONE OF THE + PLURAL NOUN/PRONOUN + WHO/THAT + PLURAL VERB.

He is only one of the players who have won the prize.

3. THE only one + Plural NOUN/PRONOUN + THAT/WHO + Singular VERB.

Akash is the only one of the boys who has won the prize.

--> Say there are 10 players. Akash has won the prize. This has been emphasized by "the only one".

Again, if Akash is the only one player who has won the prize, then we MUST use the verb in singular in case of "has won".

If we say "have won", it means that more than one players have won the prize and Akash is one of them.

4. ONE OF THE + PLURAL NOUN + SINGULAR VERB:

One of the boys has won the prize.

5. Only one of the + Plural Noun + Singular Verb:

Only one of the players has won the prize.

Now, come to the question:

A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

This sentence has two errors:

1. factors keep---is correct because there are lots of factors that keep the market from spiraling out of control. Higher interest rate is one of them. So factors that keep.

2. Like is used to compare two nouns. To compare two clauses we need to use "AS". "it did" is a clause. So we need to use "AS".

Both of these two things have been done only int he option B, the correct answer.

Thanks.

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by e-GMAT » Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:43 am

Very well explained gmat_perfect.

The topic of "one of the..." has come up several times.

Here is the framework:
As a rule: "one of the..." as a subject is always singular since we are talking about ONLY ONE entity.
However, when a relative pronoun clause is placed next to it, the decision of using singular or plural verb depends on the context of the sentence. If the relative pronoun clause describes all the entities, then plural verb should be used. Whereas, if it describes just the ONE of the many entities, then singular verb should be used.

So in essence, it is all context driven...

One of the apples was rotten
Only 1 apple was rotten - thus singular verb was

One of the apples that were rotten is was mistakenly used in the pudding.
Only 1 rotten apple was used in the pudding.
All apples were rotten

The only one apple that was rotten was mistakenly used in the pudding.
Again only 1 rotten apple was used in the pudding.
But now the sentence implies that this was the only 1 rotten apple.

So as you can see when relative pronoun clauses are used after the phrase "one of the noun", selection of plural vs. singular verb depends on the meaning of the sentence. So it is very essential to understand what the sentence implies.

A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.
The intended meaning:
Although it is an important factor, higher interest rate is ONLY 1 of the many factors. All these factors keep the housing market from spiraling out of control. And higher interest rate acted in the same manner earlier in the decade as well.
Thus, in this sentence the relative pronoun clause "that keeps..." modifies ALL the FACTORS and hence should be "that keep..."

Another version of the sentence:
A higher interest rate is the only one of the factors that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.
The intended meaning:
Higher interest rate is THE ONLY 1 of the many factors. This 1 factor keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control. And higher interest rate acted in the same manner earlier in the decade as well.
Thus, in this sentence the relative pronoun clause "that keeps..." modifies ONLY higher interest rate or ONLY 1 of the factors and hence should be "that keeps..."

Bottomline: Understand the intended meaning of the sentence and decide accordingly.
For more information on this topic, please refer to the following two discussions on this forum:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/2-questions- ... tml#295821
https://www.beatthegmat.com/one-of-the-t40356.html

For e-GMAT users, the concept of one of the nouns is discussed in the concept titled "Subject-Verb - Always Singular"

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Regards,

Payal

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