Sentence Correction

iongmat is correct -- yeah, we need to fix this question pronto.

"what xxxxx" is by default singular; i was going to produce the same question (caves at lascaux) that iongmat just produced here.

in fact, i don't think that "what concern them" could ever be correct; i'm pretty sure that "what" is always singular, unless it's in a question (e.g., What are the two most important things in your life?) -- but GMAT SC doesn't test questions, so that exception is immaterial here.

yuk, i'll make sure we fix this sentence soon.

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note that the parallelism in this problem has been transcribed incorrectly -- there should be "that" in front of "the seas will..." (which the poster forgot to transcribe -- important, because that transcription ruins the parallelism).
so that appears to be wrong here, too, but that's the poster's fault. however, that first mistake is pretty awful -- we'll get that out of there.

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sorry! someone fell asleep on this one ... it happens. we'll fix it

iongmat wrote:Mitch Sir, I have noted from somewhere that noun clause is always singular. This leads me to believe that the sentence should be:

What my wife brought was my hat and my gloves.

However, the following sentence from MGMAT confuses me:

What concern scientists the most about global warming are the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result.

What I think is:

1. The sentence should read What concerns scientists the most about global warming. Basically there are many things that concern the scientists; out of all those things, clearly there must be something that concerns them the most. You cannot have many things concerning you the most.

2. Since the sentence starts with a noun clause, the noun clause should be singular and so, the correct sentence should be:

What concerns scientists the most about global warming is the risks..

Request Ron Sir or some esteemed MGMAT instructor to clarify the doubts.

@Ron:

"what xxxxx" is by default singular; i was going to produce the same question (caves at lascaux) that iongmat just produced here.

in fact, i don't think that "what concern them" could ever be correct; i'm pretty sure that "what" is always singular, unless it's in a question (e.g., What are the two most important things in your life?) -- but GMAT SC doesn't test questions, so that exception is immaterial here.

Ron, you have given back my sleep i had lost for last few days because of this question and subsequent discussion. Thanks for chiming in here. I need to summarise the above post again following the whole discussion and need further confirmation. You have covered partially subject issu ein one of your thursday and and then in SC edition as well clauses are mentioned. Let me cite some clear examples that need your confirmation tonight to ensure no knowledge is distorted.

thank you so much again.

lunarpower wrote:iongmat is correct -- yeah, we need to fix this question pronto.

"what xxxxx" is by default singular; i was going to produce the same question (caves at lascaux) that iongmat just produced here.

in fact, i don't think that "what concern them" could ever be correct; i'm pretty sure that "what" is always singular, unless it's in a question (e.g., What are the two most important things in your life?) -- but GMAT SC doesn't test questions, so that exception is immaterial here.

yuk, i'll make sure we fix this sentence soon.

--

note that the parallelism in this problem has been transcribed incorrectly -- there should be "that" in front of "the seas will..." (which the poster forgot to transcribe -- important, because that transcription ruins the parallelism).
so that appears to be wrong here, too, but that's the poster's fault. however, that first mistake is pretty awful -- we'll get that out of there.

--

sorry! someone fell asleep on this one ... it happens. we'll fix it

iongmat wrote:Mitch Sir, I have noted from somewhere that noun clause is always singular. This leads me to believe that the sentence should be:

What my wife brought was my hat and my gloves.

However, the following sentence from MGMAT confuses me:

What concern scientists the most about global warming are the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result.

What I think is:

1. The sentence should read What concerns scientists the most about global warming. Basically there are many things that concern the scientists; out of all those things, clearly there must be something that concerns them the most. You cannot have many things concerning you the most.

2. Since the sentence starts with a noun clause, the noun clause should be singular and so, the correct sentence should be:

What concerns scientists the most about global warming is the risks..

Request Ron Sir or some esteemed MGMAT instructor to clarify the doubts.

Interesting discussion.

Before I posted here, I did some checking about this issue: while the construction used in the MGMAT sentence felt wrong every time I read it, I wanted to see what other grammar sources thought. There seems to be as much debate out there as there has been here. Some grammar sources claim that a plural verb can be assigned to a subject clause under certain circumstances; interestingly, I haven't found a definitive source that says it can never be done. Yet every time I read subject clause + plural verb, the construction offends my ear. I myself never would say what concern scientists or what my wife brought were.

Here's the good news: I think it's safe to assume that, on the GMAT, a subject clause will invariably be treated as singular.

GMATGuruNY wrote: Before I posted here, I did some checking about this issue: while the construction used in the MGMAT sentence felt wrong every time I read it, I wanted to see what other grammar sources thought. There seems to be as much debate out there as there has been here. Some grammar sources claim that a plural verb can be assigned to a subject clause under certain circumstances; interestingly, I haven't found a definitive source that says it can never be done. Yet every time I read subject clause + plural verb, the construction offends my ear. I myself never would say what concern scientists or what my wife brought were.

as a seasoned professional writer, i would bet good money that these sources are either (a) subpar or (b) non-american, or that they are talking about subject clauses that don't conform to the type discussed here.

lunarpower wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote: Before I posted here, I did some checking about this issue: while the construction used in the MGMAT sentence felt wrong every time I read it, I wanted to see what other grammar sources thought. There seems to be as much debate out there as there has been here. Some grammar sources claim that a plural verb can be assigned to a subject clause under certain circumstances; interestingly, I haven't found a definitive source that says it can never be done. Yet every time I read subject clause + plural verb, the construction offends my ear. I myself never would say what concern scientists or what my wife brought were.

as a seasoned professional writer, i would bet good money that these sources are either (a) subpar or (b) non-american, or that they are talking about subject clauses that don't conform to the type discussed here.

Perhaps. As I said, I myself would never would put together a subject clause with a plural verb; the construction offends my ear. What's interesting is that the writer of the MGMAT sentence must have agreed with the sources that I found. In fact, it has even been suggested that the subject clause in the MGMAT sentence requires a plural verb:

https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/wha ... -t393.html

Clearly you and I agree that the reasoning offered above -- like that offered by the other grammatical sources I found -- is suspect.

GMATGuruNY wrote:Clearly you and I agree that the reasoning offered above -- like that offered by the other grammatical sources I found -- is suspect.

yeah ... good look on finding that thread; i went ahead and deleted it, because we're going to kill this problem as soon as we have the time to edit it.

that problem is many years old, and was written by someone who is definitely not writing problems for our company anymore. |:

lunarpower wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:Clearly you and I agree that the reasoning offered above -- like that offered by the other grammatical sources I found -- is suspect.

yeah ... good look on finding that thread; i went ahead and deleted it, because we're going to kill this problem as soon as we have the time to edit it.

that problem is many years old, and was written by someone who is definitely not writing problems for our company anymore. |:

No worries. I cited the webpage only to show that -- while you and I agree -- others would debate this issue.

Hi Ron,

So, WHAT clause is always singular. Do you believe to say so?

What correction have you made to following problem?

What concern scientists the most about global warming are the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result.

A: are the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result
B: is the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, that the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result
C: are the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, that the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result
D: is the risks that the polar ice caps will melt, the seas will grow too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result
E: are the risks of polar ice caps melting, seas growing too warm to sustain marine life, and that violent weather patterns may result

there is a new version of that problem in the question bank; the new problem has been ridded of the "what" issue altogether. but, yes, if "what..." is the subject of a verb, then the verb should be singular.

if you have access to the MGMAT question banks, you should be able to access the new version of the problem (it should appear as #20 if you retake the question bank).