Subject-verb agreement error in MGMAT book?

uniyal01 wrote:The book states: Comparisons are a form of parallelism that deserves special attention.

Correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't it be: Comparisons are a form of parallelism that deserve special attention.

Maybe I'm getting the subject (comparisons) wrong?

Please help!

You nailed it, and actually even your version is not correct. This is correct.

Comparisons are forms of parallelism that deserve special attention.

I could see that someone might want to consider Comparisons a topic, and in that case, maybe this construction would make sense.

Comparisons is a topic within Parallelism that deserves special attention.

I am not in love with that sentence, but anyway you get the idea.

Here's another alternative.

Comparisons make up a subset of parallelism that deserves special attention.

Marty Murray wrote:

uniyal01 wrote:The book states: Comparisons are a form of parallelism that deserves special attention.

Correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't it be: Comparisons are a form of parallelism that deserve special attention.

Maybe I'm getting the subject (comparisons) wrong?

Please help!

You nailed it, and actually even your version is not correct. This is correct.

Comparisons are forms of parallelism that deserve special attention.

I could see that someone might want to consider Comparisons a topic, and in that case, maybe this construction would make sense.

Comparisons is a topic within Parallelism that deserves special attention.

I am not in love with that sentence, but anyway you get the idea.

Here's another alternative.

Comparisons make up a subset of parallelism that deserves special attention.

Cheers!

Also, am I right to assume that 'which' and 'that' can be used interchangeably in the same sentence- Comparisons is a topic within Parallelism that deserves special attention.

uniyal01 wrote:

Marty Murray wrote:

uniyal01 wrote:The book states: Comparisons are a form of parallelism that deserves special attention.

Correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't it be: Comparisons are a form of parallelism that deserve special attention.

Maybe I'm getting the subject (comparisons) wrong?

Please help!

You nailed it, and actually even your version is not correct. This is correct.

Comparisons are forms of parallelism that deserve special attention.

I could see that someone might want to consider Comparisons a topic, and in that case, maybe this construction would make sense.

Comparisons is a topic within Parallelism that deserves special attention.

I am not in love with that sentence, but anyway you get the idea.

Here's another alternative.

Comparisons make up a subset of parallelism that deserves special attention.

Cheers!

Also, am I right to assume that 'which' and 'that' can be used interchangeably in the same sentence- Comparisons is a topic within Parallelism that deserves special attention.

"That" and "which" have different uses in American English. "Which" is considered a non-restrictive modifier, so when it comes immediately after a noun, it should follow a comma. For example, I can write "The birch tree, which I planted in the front yard two years ago, is now six feet tall." (The relative clause, "which I planted in the front yard," is additional information that is not crucial to the meaning of the sentence.)

If I use 'that' I would not insert a comma, because 'that' is a restrictive modifier. So I could also write, "The birch tree that I planted in the front yard two years ago is now six feet tall." (The relative clause "that I planted in the front yard" is now important information about the tree.)

The two sentences are both correct, but mean different things - in the first, I'm saying I only have one birch tree, and this tree happens to be in my front yard. In the second case, I'm suggesting that I have multiple birch trees, but I'm only writing about the one in my front yard. As far as the GMAT is concerned, we just need to know that 'which' follows a comma in this case, and 'that' does not.