Sentence Correction

The total remittance transfers sent across the world from the top three industrial nations in recent years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budget.

a. years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

b. years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

c. years are almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

d. years - almost $100 billion annually - are, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

e. years, an amount that is almost $100 billion annually, are, according to the Government Budge Office, roughly the equivalent of the foreign assistance budgets of those three countries.


OA:c

Difficulty level : 99/100

I think total remittance transfers is plural



IMO C

A and B can be omitted right away as transfers is plural.

D and E change the meaning of the sentence.
The original meaning is that the $100 billion estimate is what the Government office estimates, NOT that it is equivalent to the 3 countries foreign assistance budgets.

Is the OA C ?

Is OA A?

OA is not A

Is it B?

Because, the subject of the sentence is total. Total is singular.
So, we can eliminate C, D and E.

Only difference I see between A and B is or.

What is the answer and explanation?

sparkles3144 wrote:Is it B?

Because, the subject of the sentence is total. Total is singular.
So, we can eliminate C, D and E.

Only difference I see between A and B is or.

What is the answer and explanation?

Your are way off in identifying the subject of the sentence. The subject is not "total" but "the total remittance transfers", which is plural.

[spoiler]OA:c [/spoiler]

I received a PM on this one:

What is the source?

I have some problems with the NON -UNDERLINED part of this sentence. The proper phrase is "top three industrialized nations" not "top three industrial nations."

As far as the subject of the sentence that is poorly worded as well. It is clear from the rest of the sentence that what is meant is "the total DOLLAR VALUE OF remittance transfers" is almost $100 billion dollars. Saying "the total remittance transfers" does not make sense in English. You either need the total NUMBER of transfers or the total AMOUNT of transfers.

The sentence is not clearly written and I personally would not take the time on this one.

David@VeritasPrep wrote:I received a PM on this one:

What is the source?

I have some problems with the NON -UNDERLINED part of this sentence. The proper phrase is "top three industrialized nations" not "top three industrial nations."

As far as the subject of the sentence that is poorly worded as well. It is clear from the rest of the sentence that what is meant is "the total DOLLAR VALUE OF remittance transfers" is almost $100 billion dollars. Saying "the total remittance transfers" does not make sense in English. You either need the total NUMBER of transfers or the total AMOUNT of transfers.

The sentence is not clearly written and I personally would not take the time on this one.

Hi David,

I got this question from the practice quizzes of Veritas Prep. I don't know the original source of the question.

May be while posting on the forum I made that mistake in non-underlined part of the sentence.

hemant_rajput wrote:The total remittance transfers sent across the world from the top three industrial nations in recent years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budget.

a. years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

b. years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

c. years are almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

d. years - almost $100 billion annually - are, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries' foreign assistance budgets.

e. years, an amount that is almost $100 billion annually, are, according to the Government Budge Office, roughly the equivalent of the foreign assistance budgets of those three countries.

OA:c

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Solution: C

Explanation: The easiest decision point to start with on this problem is the subject-verb agreement of "is" versus "are". While "is" might sound correct in this problem, the subject is the plural "transfers" so you need a plural verb. It must be "the transfers....are" not "the transfers...is" This allows you to eliminate (A) and (B). (D) and (E) create illogical meaning so (C) is correct. (C) states properly that according to the Budget Office, the transfers are almost $100 billion annually and that amount is almost the same as the foreign budgets for the three countries. (D) and (E) both state illogically that the Government Budget Office has spent a bunch of time trying to prove that the amount of the transfers is the same as the foreign aid budgets. The Office proved that the amount was $100 billion and that, as a comparison, happens to be as large as the aid budget for those three countries. Answer is (C).