Here is my take on the problem.

After initial reading the sentence, i thought A is pretty much ok.
To confirm lets look at the remaining choices. B and E are wrong because they the pronoun they does not agree with constellation. C introduces passive tense because of 'by'. D wrongly conveys that population instead of the constellation, is home to languages.

Correct me if i am wrong and let me know the OA

Hi. This is how i would solve it...
The subject of the sentence is plural so it cant be any of the choices with "it" in it. So A and C are out. Choice D adds an extra word so i would just throw that one out. I dont like the comma after pacific ( i feel its unneeded?) So E is out. So B is left.

My co-worker thinks its choice C tho. She tells me that the word they only applies to people not objects. Is this true? I don't believe it is.

My test is this saturday so if anyone has the OA to this question it would be appreciated. Also if anyone can tell me if my co worker is right about the word "they" only being used when talking about people.

Thanks!!

icandy018 wrote:Hi. This is how i would solve it...
The subject of the sentence is plural so it cant be any of the choices with "it" in it. So A and C are out. Choice D adds an extra word so i would just throw that one out. I dont like the comma after pacific ( i feel its unneeded?) So E is out. So B is left.

B

A. Pacific has a population of only a few million people,it is
B. Pacific has a population of only a few million people,they are
C. Pacific is populated by a only a few million people, and it is
D.Pacific, having a population of only a few million people, is nonetheless
E. Pacific, is populated by only a few million people, yet they are

The subject of the sentence is "Vast Constellation"
A: this satisfies the parallelism as well as subject agreement.
B: Pacific "has"...., "they" are.: Subject agreement is missing, as the subject is singular but the "they are" states it to be plural.
C: "AND" does not show contrary nature, as started by "Although"
D: "having" is not parallel with "is home to..."
E: subject agreement, as "is" and "they" do not agree.

Hence IMO A....

Wats the OA?

The vast constellation of islands is singular subject and hence to satisfy subject verb agreement, Answer is A

Vast constellation of small islands sounds plural to me.
But i see what your saying. So is the subject focus the constellation or the islands? I understand that a set of islands is one set (singular) but that islandS word is driving me crazy. Can the person with the OA post it.

The OA is A.

I am also clear on the subject-verb agreement part but i was not sure if the pronoun 'it' has a clear antecedent in A. Can somebody clarify?

Thanks.

GoMBA wrote:The OA is A.

I am also clear on the subject-verb agreement part but i was not sure if the pronoun 'it' has a clear antecedent in A. Can somebody clarify?

Thanks.

Difficulty with this is in seeing that the subject is singular. Once you have identified that, the second clause should start with a singular pronoun which can only logically refer back to the singular subject.

IMO: A since vast constellation is the subject and is singular.

However I have a question on the stmt. The stmt uses the verb dot (plural verb) for singular subject. I believe the verb should be dots.