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Media has or Media have...

by apuso » Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:24 pm
Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus the high costs and low
ethics of campaign finance, but they have generally overlooked the cost of actually
administering elections, which includes facilities, transport, printing, staffing, and
technology.
A. Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus
B. Analyses of campaign expenditures by the media has been focus on
C. In analyzing campaign expenditures, the media have focused on
D. Media analyses of campaign expenditures have had as a focus
E. In their analysis of campaign expenditures, the media has been focusing on

OA: C
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by mmslf75 » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:25 pm
apuso wrote:
Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus the high costs and low
ethics of campaign finance, but they have generally overlooked the cost of actually
administering elections, which includes facilities, transport, printing, staffing, and
technology.
A. Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus
HAS HAD AS A FOCUS is wrong

B. Analyses of campaign expenditures by the media has been focus on
Should have been
HAS BEEN FOCUSSING ON

C. In analyzing campaign expenditures, the media have focused on
CORRECT

D. Media analyses of campaign expenditures have had as a focus
HAVE HAD AS A FOCUS is wrong

E. In their analysis of campaign expenditures, the media has been focusing on

MEDIA used with THEIR and HAS
Non sensical option



Source please ??
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by becnil » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:26 pm
I was also fooled into thinking Media as a singular noun. I noticed some literature saying it can take either form. But looks like criteria, phenomena, memoranda, and media are all plural, as derived from Latin, having their individual singular forms in criterion, phenomenon and medium etc..
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by girish3131 » Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:43 pm
As per my knowledge, C can't be correct b'coz have focused means media still analysing which is not the case here.
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by gmatmachoman » Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:54 pm
apuso wrote:Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus the high costs and low
ethics of campaign finance, but they have generally overlooked the cost of actually
administering elections, which includes facilities, transport, printing, staffing, and
technology.
A. Analyzing campaign expenditures, the media has had as a focus
B. Analyses of campaign expenditures by the media has been focus on
C. In analyzing campaign expenditures, the media have focused on
D. Media analyses of campaign expenditures have had as a focus
E. In their analysis of campaign expenditures, the media has been focusing on

OA: C
I really doubt the source. But still I am going with my options...

C seems to be pretty good bet.

C. In analyzing campaign expenditures, the media have focused on the high costs and low ethics of campaign finance, but they have generally overlooked the cost of actually administering elections, which includes facilities, transport, printing, staffing, and technology.

If you keenly look at the second portion of the line," media" is treated as " plural" subject which is complemented by "they have".

I still wont agree that " the media" is plural. but given choices makes me to do so!
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by harshavardhanc » Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:13 am
I remember Ron saying in one of the posts that there's always a hint given in the non-underlined part (the correct one) about usage of a collective noun. In other words, observe how the author looks at that collective noun. Is it singular or plural ?

Here in the sentence, as gmatmachoman has correctly emboldened, media is considered plural [ but they have generally overlooked ] . This now becomes a fact and you cannot change it! :)

Many have questioned the source and have chose not to answer this question. But, in all the options provided C will be the credited response .


Moreover C maintains the tense : "the media have focused.... , but they have generally overlooked ...."


which answers girish's question .

girish3131 : Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:43 pm

As per my knowledge, C can't be correct b'coz have focused means media still analysing which is not the case here.

IMO C
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by gmatmachoman » Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:24 am
harshavardhanc wrote:I remember Ron saying in one of the posts that there's always a hint given in the non-underlined part (the correct one) about usage of a collective noun. In other words, observe how the author looks at that collective noun. Is it singular or plural ?

Here in the sentence, as gmatmachoman has correctly emboldened, media is considered plural [ but they have generally overlooked ] . This now becomes a fact and you cannot change it! :)

Many have questioned the source and have chose not to answer this question. But, in all the options provided C will be the credited response .


Moreover C maintains the tense : "the media have focused.... , but they have generally overlooked ...."


which answers girish's question .

girish3131 : Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:43 pm

As per my knowledge, C can't be correct b'coz have focused means media still analysing which is not the case here.

IMO C

@Harsh

So u mean to say " the media" is plural??
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by harshavardhanc » Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:27 am
what I say / believe doesn't matter. The author here "thinks" that media is plural, and you will have to pick an option which incorporates that fact.
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by money9111 » Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:32 am
is C correct? that's my final answer Regis
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by harshavardhanc » Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:08 am
https://www.beatthegmat.com/melville-and ... tml#216749

I think Ron's explanation for X and Y can be used for collective nouns as well.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.
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by gmatmachoman » Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:03 am
harshavardhanc wrote:https://www.beatthegmat.com/melville-and ... tml#216749

I think Ron's explanation for X and Y can be used for collective nouns as well.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Harsh,

U r digressing from the topic concerned... We are talking about " the media" which is singular and not as collective noun as was discussed in Ron's Post.

But lately , I found a topic https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/ ... lural.html which says " the media" is plural.

So on that note I accept " the media" is plural and the whole sentence has proper SV agreement!
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by harshavardhanc » Thu Jan 28, 2010 4:32 am
U r digressing from the topic concerned...
yes I did..... apologies! :(
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by gmat1011 » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:45 pm
I googled for this question and landed up here. The thread is almost a year old but for anone interested to know the source:

This little tricky prob is straight out of Gmat Prep. Took it last night and this one popped up.

Army is singular. Thought "Media" was singular on the same basis and eliminated C as it has a "have." But apparently not. C is the OA.

Media is plural as is bacteria. Medium and Bacterium would be singular.
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by EducationAisle » Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:28 pm
gmat1011 wrote:Thought "Media" was singular on the same basis and eliminated C as it has a "have."
This sentence just reinforces why it is so important to read and understand the non-underlined portion of the sentence. The non-underlined portion says: ....they (media) have generally overlooked....

So, this should clearly tell you that media is plural. You didn't even need to know this to solve this question.
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by gmat1011 » Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:42 pm
yeah Good point EducationAisle... great tip.. will watch for that one...
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