Sentence Correction

I was doing couple of GMATPREP problems and I came across following question.
My question is the numbers of women is singular or plural?
The number of is singular. Is it different for the numbers of?

Thanks!

A Labor Department study states that the numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase in the past decade and accounted for more than sixty-two percent of the total growth in the civilian work force.

(A) numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase
(B) numbers of women employed outside the home grew more than thirty-five percent
(C) numbers of women employed outside the home were raised by more than thirty-five percent
(D) number of women employed outside the home increased by more than thirty-five percent
(E) number of women employed outside the home was raised by more than a thirty-five percent increase

sparkles3144 wrote:I was doing couple of GMATPREP problems and I came across following question.
My question is the numbers of women is singular or plural?
The number of is singular. Is it different for the numbers of?

Thanks!

A Labor Department study states that the numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase in the past decade and accounted for more than sixty-two percent of the total growth in the civilian work force.

(A) numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase
(B) numbers of women employed outside the home grew more than thirty-five percent
(C) numbers of women employed outside the home were raised by more than thirty-five percent
(D) number of women employed outside the home increased by more than thirty-five percent
(E) number of women employed outside the home was raised by more than a thirty-five percent increase

the number of x....is singular
the numbers of x...implies talk is of actual numbers ...so wrong here

(e) passive ...says something raised the no..but no such "doer" is listed

i bet on (d)

"The numbers of" is always wrong. You can say that it is a wrong phrase/idiom.

The number of -> Singular
A number of -> Plural

AnjaliOberoi wrote:"The numbers of" is always wrong. You can say that it is a wrong phrase/idiom.

The number of -> Singular
A number of -> Plural

The numbers of is not always wrong.
I did come across it in Kaplan, Manhattan and Official sources.

I researched after I came across your reply.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/can ... t7484.html

Read Stacey Koprince's reply
https://www.beatthegmat.com/numbers-of-f ... 85-15.html

Hope it helps!

sparkles3144 wrote:I was doing couple of GMATPREP problems and I came across following question.
My question is the numbers of women is singular or plural?
The number of is singular. Is it different for the numbers of?

Thanks!

A Labor Department study states that the numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase in the past decade and accounted for more than sixty-two percent of the total growth in the civilian work force.

(A) numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase
(B) numbers of women employed outside the home grew more than thirty-five percent
(C) numbers of women employed outside the home were raised by more than thirty-five percent
(D) number of women employed outside the home increased by more than thirty-five percent
(E) number of women employed outside the home was raised by more than a thirty-five percent increase

The NUMBERS of women -- a PLURAL subject -- means the MULTITUDES of women.
The intention here is to discuss not multitudes of women but a STATISTIC about women: the NUMBER employed outside the home.
Eliminate A, B and C.

In E, RAISED by more than a thirty-five percent INCREASE is redundant.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

Hi Mitch,

Can you please comment upon the usage of "numbers of". Is it correct in GMAT context.

Regards, Anjali

AnjaliOberoi wrote:Hi Mitch,

Can you please comment upon the usage of "numbers of". Is it correct in GMAT context.

Regards, Anjali

I would be skeptical of an answer choice that employs numbers of.
However, the GMAT accepts the use of its numbers and their numbers:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-gyrfalcon-t51538.html
https://www.beatthegmat.com/genetic-homo ... 71678.html.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

sparkles3144 wrote:I was doing couple of GMATPREP problems and I came across following question.
My question is the numbers of women is singular or plural?
The number of is singular. Is it different for the numbers of?

Thanks!

A Labor Department study states that the numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase in the past decade and accounted for more than sixty-two percent of the total growth in the civilian work force.

(A) numbers of women employed outside the home grew by more than a thirty-five percent increase
(B) numbers of women employed outside the home grew more than thirty-five percent
(C) numbers of women employed outside the home were raised by more than thirty-five percent
(D) number of women employed outside the home increased by more than thirty-five percent
(E) number of women employed outside the home was raised by more than a thirty-five percent increase

The NUMBERS of women -- a PLURAL subject -- means the MULTITUDES of women.
The intention here is to discuss not multitudes of women but a STATISTIC about women: the NUMBER employed outside the home.
Eliminate A, B and C.

In E, RAISED by more than a thirty-five percent INCREASE is redundant.
Eliminate E.

The correct answer is D.

Dear Mitch,

1- In OA, If 'increased by' is replaced by 'grew by', is it correct?

2- In choice B, regardless of 'numbers of', is the construction 'grew more than 35%' correct? what difference in meaning between the former construction and 'grew/increased by'(provided that 'grew by and increased by' are the same as questioned above).

Thanks in advance

Mo2men wrote:Dear Mitch,

1- In OA, If 'increased by' is replaced by 'grew by', is it correct?

An OA in GMATPrep:
Despite the growing number of people who purchase plane tickets online, airline executives are convinced that many travelers will still use travel agents.
Here, the usage of growing number suggests that GMAC would consider it acceptable to say the number grew by more than thirty-five percent.

2- In choice B, regardless of 'numbers of', is the construction 'grew more than 35%' correct? what difference in meaning between the former construction and 'grew/increased by'(provided that 'grew by and increased by' are the same as questioned above).

An OA in GMATPrep:
Between 1990 and 2000 the global economy grew more than it did during the 10,000 years from the beginning of agriculture to 1950.
Here, the usage of grew more suggests that the blue and green phrasings above are all acceptable.

Dear Mitch,

The question at hand used the construction: 'increase by + 35 percent' , where percent here is adverb. However, in the OG question below, choice A is considered incorrect because 'by' can't followed by adverb 'twice'.
What is the difference between them in each case.

The number of undergraduate degrees in engineering awarded by colleges and universities in the United States increased by more than twice from 1978 to 1985.
(A) increased by more than twice
(B) increased more than two times
(C) more than doubled
(D) was more than doubled
(E) had more than doubled.

Thanks for your help

Mo2men wrote:Dear Mitch,

The question at hand used the construction: 'increase by + 35 percent' , where percent here is adverb. However, in the OG question below, choice A is considered incorrect because 'by' can't followed by adverb 'twice'.
What is the difference between them in each case.

percent may serve as a NOUN.
Of the students in the class, eighty percent passed the test.
Here, eighty percent is a NOUN serving as the subject of passed.

twice is a MODIFIER.
It cannot serve as the subject of a sentence.
Of the students in the class, twice passed the test.
The sentence above is nonsensical.
twice is not a noun and thus cannot serve as the subject of passed.

The object of a preposition such as by must be a NOUN.
For this reason, by may be followed by percent but not by twice.
Incorrect: increased by twice
Correct: increased by one hundred percent