vinni.k wrote:The surprising artifacts of King George III, ruler of England for over thirty years, revealed that this most loyal and faithful of leaders was a man tempted by personal and political weaknesses, offers from other corrupt leaders, and promises of indulgences from the church.

A). that this most loyal and faithful of leaders was a man tempted by personal and
B). that this most loyal and faithful of leaders was a man and also tempted by personal as well as
C). this most loyal and faithful of leaders was a man and that he was tempted by personal and
D). this most loyal and faithful of leaders was a man and that he was tempted in personal as well as political
E). this most loyal and faithful of leaders having been a man who was tempted in personal as well as

Answer is A

I got this correct, but please help me in identifying the subject of "was" that is in the underlined part of the sentence.

Thanks & Regards
Vinni

GMATGuruNY wrote:
The SUPERLATIVE form of an adjective can serve as a noun.
To illustrate:
The TALLEST stood in back.
Only the BEST were chosen.

In the SC above, this MOST LOYAL AND FAITHFUL (a superlative) is serving as the subject of the verb was.

vinni.k wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:
The SUPERLATIVE form of an adjective can serve as a noun.
To illustrate:
The TALLEST stood in back.
Only the BEST were chosen.

In the SC above, this MOST LOYAL AND FAITHFUL (a superlative) is serving as the subject of the verb was.

Sorry for the late reply Mitch. My internet was not working.

I am not quite able to convince myself on this one.
If "this most loyal and faithful" is serving as a subject for verb "was", then isn't it is a compound subject requiring plural verb.

I got this one correct because i took it as an inverted sentence. I mean to say
"a man was most loyal and faithful of leaders". Now verb "was" matches the subject "man".

Looking forward to your reply.

Regards
Vinni

Please

GMATGuruNY wrote: A superlative serving as a noun can be singular or plural.
We have to rely on context.

In the SC above, this most loyal and faithful of leaders clearly refers to KING GEORGE III and is thus a SINGULAR subject.
Another clue is the modifier THIS, which can refer only to a singular noun.

Now consider the following: Only the most loyal and faithful were chosen to be members of the king's army.
Here, it's clear that more than one person is being chosen.
Thus, in this context, the most loyal and faithful is PLURAL.