Majority_Concept!

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Majority_Concept!

by gmat_perfect » Wed Aug 04, 2010 8:36 am
I was solving an sc that has the use of "majority". I was searching the New York Time with "majority".

I have found the following sentences:


A majority of Democrats in the House and Senate still typically come down on the side of gun control.

A majority of the district's voters are African-American.

A majority of blog readers say blogs are useful.

A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance.

=> A majority of + Plural Noun + Plural Verb.


Again:

Women's new majority in the nation's workplaces comes decades after women first began trading in their aprons for pantsuits in droves.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is leaning toward including a government-run health insurance plan.

=> I have got it. it means the leader is the sentence.

An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout.

Here, I can not find any rule.

Would any expert explain the concept of "majority"?

Thanks.
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by grockit_andrea » Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:57 am
gmat_perfect wrote:I was solving an sc that has the use of "majority". I was searching the New York Time with "majority".

I have found the following sentences:


A majority of Democrats in the House and Senate still typically come down on the side of gun control.

A majority of the district's voters are African-American.

A majority of blog readers say blogs are useful.

A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance.

=> A majority of + Plural Noun + Plural Verb.


Again:

Women's new majority in the nation's workplaces comes decades after women first began trading in their aprons for pantsuits in droves.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is leaning toward including a government-run health insurance plan.

=> I have got it. it means the leader is the sentence.

An overwhelming majority of Americans wants Wall Street subjected to tougher regulation in the aftermath of the bank bailout.

Here, I can not find any rule.

Would any expert explain the concept of "majority"?

Thanks.
This last use of "majority" ("An overwhelming majority...") is exactly like the first ones you listed ("A majority of..."), except that there's an additional adjective (overwhelming) and that adjective starts with a vowel, which requires "an" instead of "a." If you removed the adjective, you could have "A majority of Americans wants..." The rule is the same; the only difference is that adjective, which isn't a necessary part of the sentence.
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