SC - Why GMAT prefers cycle over cycle"s"

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goelmohit2002 wrote:Hi All,

Can someone please tell why GMAT prefers sentence #1 over #2. Or my understanding is wrong and both are equally liked by GMAT ?

1. three out of every 32 people now own a bicycle
2. three out of every 32 people now own bicycle"s".
It's just totally dependent upon what you are trying to imply..

Let's say there are three guys: A, B and C and they each have ONLY one bike.. then the first sentence makes sense.. as it says 3 out of every 32 now own "a" bicycle..

Now let's say, each of these three guys owns multiple bikes.. i.e. A has 3 bicycles, B has 4 and C has 6..
Now the first sentence still makes sense.. although the second one also makes sense.. as it says, three out of every 32 people own bicycles.

so it depends on what you are trying to say..
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dumb.doofus wrote:
goelmohit2002 wrote:Hi All,

Can someone please tell why GMAT prefers sentence #1 over #2. Or my understanding is wrong and both are equally liked by GMAT ?

1. three out of every 32 people now own a bicycle
2. three out of every 32 people now own bicycle"s".
It's just totally dependent upon what you are trying to imply..

Let's say there are three guys: A, B and C and they each have ONLY one bike.. then the first sentence makes sense.. as it says 3 out of every 32 now own "a" bicycle..

Now let's say, each of these three guys owns multiple bikes.. i.e. A has 3 bicycles, B has 4 and C has 6..
Now the first sentence still makes sense.. although the second one also makes sense.. as it says, three out of every 32 people own bicycles.

so it depends on what you are trying to say..
_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,
Can you pls explain which one to prefer if given in a question. I think I am still missing something here :(

THX

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graghukalyan wrote:
dumb.doofus wrote:
goelmohit2002 wrote:Hi All,

Can someone please tell why GMAT prefers sentence #1 over #2. Or my understanding is wrong and both are equally liked by GMAT ?

1. three out of every 32 people now own a bicycle
2. three out of every 32 people now own bicycle"s".
It's just totally dependent upon what you are trying to imply..

Let's say there are three guys: A, B and C and they each have ONLY one bike.. then the first sentence makes sense.. as it says 3 out of every 32 now own "a" bicycle..

Now let's say, each of these three guys owns multiple bikes.. i.e. A has 3 bicycles, B has 4 and C has 6..
Now the first sentence still makes sense.. although the second one also makes sense.. as it says, three out of every 32 people own bicycles.

so it depends on what you are trying to say..
_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,
Can you pls explain which one to prefer if given in a question. I think I am still missing something here :(

THX
as I said, it depends on what the sentence is trying to imply.. till we know the whole sentence we can't say much.. I would wait for the whole sentence to be posted..
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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:36 pm
Hi DD,

I too had the similar opinion as to yours. Can you please look into the following question:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/tax-returns-t39368.html

Here the OA is B. But as per the above discussion shouldn't the answer be A. Since people might be filing multiple returns.

Or do u think that there is some problem in OA.

Thanks
Mohit

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by dumb.doofus » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:45 pm
goelmohit2002 wrote:Hi DD,

I too had the similar opinion as to yours. Can you please look into the following question:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/tax-returns-t39368.html

Here the OA is B. But as per the above discussion shouldn't the answer be A. Since people might be filing multiple returns.

Or do u think that there is some problem in OA.

Thanks
Mohit
Perfect. I do not see any ambiguity in that question.. and it is based on the same lines as I explained above.. as I said, if A, B and C have ONLY a bicycle each than the first sentence makes perfect sense.. i.e. 3 out of every 32 people now own a bike... Notice "a bike".. i.e. single bike

Let's check this question now:

This April, three out of seven people will file tax returns with a disc found in software stores and accounting texts.

A) tax returns with a disk found in software stores and accounting texts
B) a tax return with a disk found in software stores and accounting texts
C) tax returns with disks found in a software store and an accounting text
D) tax returns with a disk found in a software store and an accounting text
E) a tax return with a disk found in a software store and an accounting text

Each of those three people is going to file a single tax return.. coz that's what you can file.. isnt it?
So you can straightaway eliminate A, C and D..
Also, now we can eliminate E because it uses the indefinite article "a" and "an" implying you can find that disc in only one software store and in only one accounting text.. that is not the intended meaning at all..
Only choice left is B.. which is quite clear and concise..
Last edited by dumb.doofus on Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:48 pm
Hi DD,

Why can't we file multiple returns using a single software ?

e.g. income tax returns, property tax returns and so on ?

Thanks

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by dumb.doofus » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:54 pm
Buddy.. govt allows you to file one single tax return per person per year.. what ever it is .. property or stocks or whatever earnings.. everything you file under a single tax return per person per year.. that's govt rules and regulations.. as far as I know..
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by goelmohit2002 » Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:57 pm
Thanks DD.

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by goelmohit2002 » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:54 am
Hi DD,

I again visited the link, as per the discussion on that thread KaplanOE says that A is wrong because

"there is subject-verb agreement error in A."

Can you please help....how there is S-V mismatch.

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