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Subject - verb agreement issue

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by vinni.k » Tue Jul 19, 2011 5:53 am
Hi Experts,

Really apologize if this question is posted again. I did find two links which looked useful, but they create confusion.

The rising of costs of data-processing operations at many financial institutions has created a growing opportunity for independent companies to provide these services more efficiently and at lower cost.

(A) The rising of costs
(B) Rising costs
(C) The rising cost
(D) Because the rising cost
(E) Because of rising costs

Answer is C

I am stuck between A and C. Why is A/C wrong? I did find following links:-
(1) https://www.beatthegmat.com/why-is-a-wrong-t81346.html
(2) https://press.www.beatthegmat.com/strang ... 59949.html

For option A some say "rising" is the subject and some say "costs" is the subject. But I believe rising is the subject. If rising is the subject then why is A wrong ? Is it because of conciseness ? This is what O.G says..

What about this sentence ?

The tracking of satellites is important for the space agency. (Indeed this is correct then what about A ?)

Experts please reply.

Thanks & Regards
Vinni
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by Target2009 » Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:01 am
Go thru
https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-sentenc ... tions.html
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by rishimaharaj » Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:12 am
Hello Vinni,

I'm not an expert, but one thing that I've found helpful on sentence correction is to eliminate unnecessary words. A seems to be wordy:
A. The rising of costs of data-processing operations...
vs.
C. The rising cost of data-processing operations...

Option C "sounds" more fluid.

In regards to subject verb agreement:
If A was correct the sentence would be The rising of costs....have created a growing opportunity...
The actual sentence though contains the word "has" which means that the underlined portion must contain the singular "cost."
The cost ... has created a growing opportunity...
or
The rising cost ... has created a growing opportunity...

Both of these are simplified and "sound" correct, which is why I'd say the answer is C.

Hope this helps!
--Rishi
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by vinni.k » Tue Jul 19, 2011 7:42 am
Appreciate you reply
rishimaharaj wrote: In regards to subject verb agreement:
If A was correct the sentence would be The rising of costs....have created a growing opportunity...
I don't think so "costs" is the subject. Here "rising" is the subject, so it needs "has".


The cost ... has created a growing opportunity...
This is correct. "Cost" is the subject.
The rising cost ... has created a growing opportunity...
Here "rising" is an adjective modifying a noun that is "cost". Moreover "cost" is the subject.

I think something is missing. I read the following in one of the mentioned links, but i am not sure about it.

An article (a, the, an) indicates that preferably, the subject needs to be a proper noun, rather than a gerund. If such a proper noun conveying the same idea does not exist, then we reluctantly use the gerund.

Please experts help on this doubt.

Thanks & Regards
Vinni
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by rishimaharaj » Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:28 am
Hi Vinni,
I don't think so "costs" is the subject. Here "rising" is the subject, so it needs "has".
I don't agree that "rising" is the subject.

Grammatically, "The rising...has created a growing opportunity..." is correct, but the meaning is unclear. You have to ask yourself, "What is rising?" The answer to this question is "costs are rising." So "costs" is the subject.

Rising isn't making the opportunity. Costs are making the opportunity.
In actuality, the "rising costs" are making the opportunity.

Because "rising costs" is the full subject, it must agree with "has," hence "The rising cost...has created" is correct.

One other way to think about it is to try a new sentence to make it more concrete.
The swimming of lessons has been helpful. -->Incorrect
The swimming lessons have been helpful. -->Correct
The swimming lesson has been helpful. -->Correct

Swimming is not the subject. Lessons/Lesson is the subject.
Swimming clarifies which type of lesson :: Swimming lessons.

Does this help?
--Rishi
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by rishimaharaj » Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:08 am
Vinni,
You can also watch this video: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... -agreement.

Around 3:55 there is an example with a gerund starting the sentence.
Around 5:25 there is an example which is slightly similar to the one we've been discussing.

Hope this helps,
--Rishi
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by e-GMAT » Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:57 pm
First of all I will clarify the SV pair in this sentence:

The rising of costs...has created a growing opportunity...

Subject = "THE RISING of COSTS"
Subject is NOT "COSTS"

Secondly, lets discuss why choice A is incorrect.
From SV agreement perspective, there is no error in choice A.
Choice A is incorrect because of wordy expression. We want to express the action of "rising". This can be effectively expressed by using the expression "the rise of costs". Thus, use of verb-ing form in this case is unnecessarily wordy. And hence choice A is incorrect.

Now lets come to another sentence provided in the original post:
The tracking of satellites is important for the space agency.
This sentence is correct. We want to express the action of "tracking". This cannot be expressed using any other form of the word - track. Thus, we have to use the verb-ing form here - Tracking of satellites.

Lets take another sentence:
Consuming of fiber rich foods is good for digestive system.
This sentence is wordy because we can effectively express this using "consumption of fiber rich foods"
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by vinni.k » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:38 am
Thanks e-GMAT. This makes sense and is logical. Really appreciate for clearing the doubt.

Thanks & Regards
Vinni
e-GMAT wrote:First of all I will clarify the SV pair in this sentence:

The rising of costs...has created a growing opportunity...

Subject = "THE RISING of COSTS"
Subject is NOT "COSTS"

Secondly, lets discuss why choice A is incorrect.
From SV agreement perspective, there is no error in choice A.
Choice A is incorrect because of wordy expression. We want to express the action of "rising". This can be effectively expressed by using the expression "the rise of costs". Thus, use of verb-ing form in this case is unnecessarily wordy. And hence choice A is incorrect.

Now lets come to another sentence provided in the original post:
The tracking of satellites is important for the space agency.
This sentence is correct. We want to express the action of "tracking". This cannot be expressed using any other form of the word - track. Thus, we have to use the verb-ing form here - Tracking of satellites.

Lets take another sentence:
Consuming of fiber rich foods is good for digestive system.
This sentence is wordy because we can effectively express this using "consumption of fiber rich foods"
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