lunarpower wrote:

gmat740 wrote:Before I answer this question, here is something related to additives

Eg:1 : Karan along with John, is coming to the party.
Eg:2 : Karan and John are coming to party.

A point to note is whenever AND is used, we consider plural subject and so a plural verb. But for rest of the additives( along with, in addition to etc etc) we consider singular verb.

yes.

C and D Qualify.
D) unemployment rates, coupled with significantly increased retail prices as well as energy costs, is
In D the bold part is awkward.

"awkwardness" isn't the major problem here. (as you probably know, official answers are almost ALWAYS wrong for concrete reasons, not just "awkwardness"; usually, "awkward" answers are also wrong for additional reasons.)

the major problem is that "increased" is supposed to modify both retail prices and energy costs.
the way this is written, using "as well as", that doesn't happen; "increased" only modifies the first of these things.
in other words, the expression is parsed as follows:
significantly increased retail prices AS WELL AS energy costs.
that's not the intended meaning, but, there it is.

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not to mention, you can't use "coupled with" unless you mention only ONE thing before, and one thing after.

choice (d) says "X coupled with Y as well as Z", which is wrong, because, well, that's not a "couple" anymore.

armaan700+ wrote:The increase in unemployment rates, coupled with significantly increased retail prices as well as energy costs, are forcing many homeowners to look into alternative sources of fuel in order to save money on winter heating.
A) unemployment rates, coupled with significantly increased retail prices as well as energy costs, are
B) rates of unemployment, coupled with significant increases in retail prices and energy costs, have been
C) unemployment rates, coupled with significant increases in both retail prices and energy costs, is
D) unemployment rates, coupled with significantly increased retail prices as well as energy costs, is
E) rates of unemployment, coupled with significant increases in both retail as well as energy costs, had been