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SC - SV agreement

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karthikpandian19: Legendary Member; Posts: 1665; Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:04 pmFollowed by: 70 members; Thanked: 165 times

by karthikpandian19 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:09 pm

Theodore Dreiser, together with Edith Wharton and her contemporaries, rank as one of the nation's great pioneers of naturalism, a literary style based on the belief that social conditions and hereditary traits exert an inescapable force on human character.
(A) rank as one

(B) ranks as one

(C) has the rank of one

(D) has the ranking of one

(E) ranking as one

Last edited by karthikpandian19 on Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:09 pm

ankita1709: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 109; Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:09 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 8 times

by ankita1709 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:44 pm

karthikpandian19 wrote:Theodore Dreiser, together with Edith Wharton and her contemporaries, rank as one of the nation's great pioneers of naturalism, ??? a literary style based on the belief that social conditions and hereditary traits exert an inescapable force on human character.
(A) rank as one

(B) ranks as one your answer correct

(C) has the rank of one

(D) has the ranking of one

(E) ranking as one

Is there a missing word after the modifier because sentence seems incomplete.

Any ways IMO B Together with has the same meaning as and but if 'together with' is used the subject remains singular as opposed to when 'and' is used

Ankita

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karthikpandian19: Legendary Member; Posts: 1665; Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:04 pmFollowed by: 70 members; Thanked: 165 times

by karthikpandian19 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:12 pm

There is no missing word in the original sentence here. The ",a literary style based on......" modifies "naturalism" here

ankita1709 wrote:
karthikpandian19 wrote:Theodore Dreiser, together with Edith Wharton and her contemporaries, rank as one of the nation's great pioneers of naturalism, ??? a literary style based on the belief that social conditions and hereditary traits exert an inescapable force on human character.
(A) rank as one

(B) ranks as one

(C) has the rank of one

(D) has the ranking of one

(E) ranking as one
Is there a missing word after the modifier because sentence seems incomplete.

Any ways IMO B Together with has the same meaning as and but if 'together with' is used the subject remains singular as opposed to when 'and' is used

Regards,
Karthik
The source of the questions that i post from JUNE 2013 is from KNEWTON

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karthikpandian19: Legendary Member; Posts: 1665; Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:04 pmFollowed by: 70 members; Thanked: 165 times

by karthikpandian19 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:15 pm

Choice A This sentence incorrectly pairs a singular subject, "Theodore Dreiser," with a plural verb, "rank." It should be noted that the subject of this sentence is singular. "Together with" does not form a compound subject, though you may be tempted to think so. For future reference, "along with" and "as well as" also do not form compound subjects.

The phrase between the commas describes Theodore Dreiser and has no effect on the following verb. Don't be confused by the fact that the plural noun "contemporaries" is next to the verb "rank" in the sentence; these words are in fact disconnected by the comma that comes between them.

Choice B is correct. This choice corrects the subject/verb disagreement in the original sentence. The subject "Theodore Dreiser" is singular, so the verb "rank" should also be singular. The singular form of the verb "ranks" is correct here.

Choice C is wordy and awkward. The word "rank" can be used as a verb (in the original sentence) or as a noun (in this choice), but the phrase "has the rank of" is usually only used to refer to specific rank, such as "general" or "grandmaster."

Choice D is not as concise and clear as choice B. There is no clear reason to change the verb "rank" into the noun "ranking;" in fact, the words have slightly different meanings.

Choice E transforms the sentence into a fragment-an incomplete sentence. A verbal (in this choice, the participle "ranking") cannot be the main verb of the sentence. In effect, this choice turns everything after the second comma into a phrase that describes Theodore Dreiser. However, Dreiser doesn't actually do anything-there is no main verb in this sentence.

Consider this simpler situation with the same problem:

Incorrect: John, the baker's son, dancing in the street... (No main verb! "Dancing" describes John's state).
Correct: John, the baker's son, dances in the street (Main verb: "dances").
Choice B is correct.

karthikpandian19 wrote:Theodore Dreiser, together with Edith Wharton and her contemporaries, rank as one of the nation's great pioneers of naturalism, a literary style based on the belief that social conditions and hereditary traits exert an inescapable force on human character.
(A) rank as one

(B) ranks as one

(C) has the rank of one

(D) has the ranking of one

(E) ranking as one

Regards,
Karthik
The source of the questions that i post from JUNE 2013 is from KNEWTON

---If you find my post useful, click "Thank"

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---Never stop until cracking GMAT---

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1947: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 215; Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:24 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 13 times

by 1947 » Sat Jun 09, 2012 9:54 pm

karthikpandian19 wrote:Theodore Dreiser, together with Edith Wharton and her contemporaries, rank as one of the nation's great pioneers of naturalism, a literary style based on the belief that social conditions and hereditary traits exert an inescapable force on human character.
(A) rank as one

(B) ranks as one

(C) has the rank of one unncessary words

(D) has the ranking of one .....wrong

(E) ranking as one wrong

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dhonu121: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 316; Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:18 amFollowed by: 6 members; Thanked: 16 times

by dhonu121 » Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:19 am

S-V agreement.
B is the only one that is simplest and maintains sv agreement.

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