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right choice

by bupbebeo » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:54 pm
Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain quiescent in the earliest phases of an embryo's development.

(A) tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(B) tell individual genes both at which time they should become active and should remain
(C) tells individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(D) tells individual genes both when to activate and when to
(E) tell an individual gene both about when it should become active and when it should remain


why E is wrong answer?
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:16 pm
imo C is correct

E is wrong as the subject one of the substances is singular so tells is correct
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by mohit11 » Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:00 pm
bupbebeo wrote:Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain quiescent in the earliest phases of an embryo's development.

(A) tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(B) tell individual genes both at which time they should become active and should remain
(C) tells individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(D) tells individual genes both when to activate and when to
(E) tell an individual gene both about when it should become active and when it should remain


why E is wrong answer?
Biologists have found one of the substances that tell individual genes ... One of the many substance that can tell.....

So rule here is that One of the X takes plural verb when X is one of the many factors and Singular verb when X is an unique factor..

So we should use plural verb "Tell" here. That rules out C and D.

"it" in E does not have a clear referent.

Between A and B, it comes down to the idiom Both X and Y, where X and Y should have the same structure. B violates this rule hence A is our Answer

Answer: A
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:06 pm
sorry its my mistake a numbers of will take plural verb so tell is correct
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by loveusonu » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:33 am
bupbebeo wrote:Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain quiescent in the earliest phases of an embryo's development.

(A) tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(B) tell individual genes both at which time they should become active and should remain
(C) tells individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(D) tells individual genes both when to activate and when to
(E) tell an individual gene both about when it should become active and when it should remain


why E is wrong answer?
Imo A: one of the substances that tell (plural)
Last edited by loveusonu on Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by thephoenix » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:43 am
mohit11 wrote: So rule here is that One of the X takes plural verb when X is one of the many factors and Singular verb when X is an unique factor..
can u site some example where X is a unique factor and the verb is singular. Will be glad if u have something from OG where X is a unique factor....
Thanks
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by loveusonu » Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:29 pm
thephoenix wrote:
mohit11 wrote: So rule here is that One of the X takes plural verb when X is one of the many factors and Singular verb when X is an unique factor..
can u site some example where X is a unique factor and the verb is singular. Will be glad if u have something from OG where X is a unique factor....
Thanks
I am not Mohit but here is where I leart all the concepts about "one of the" , "the only one..." etc
https://www.beatthegmat.com/one-of-the-t40356.html


Hope that helps!
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by loveusonu » Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:33 pm
bupbebeo wrote:Biologists believe that they have found one of the substances that tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain quiescent in the earliest phases of an embryo's development.

(A) tell individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(B) tell individual genes both at which time they should become active and should remain
(C) tells individual genes both when to become active and when to remain
(D) tells individual genes both when to activate and when to
(E) tell an individual gene both about when it should become active and when it should remain


why E is wrong answer?
E is incorrect because of IDIOM Both X and Y , where X & Y should have same structure and that is not the case here.
It would have been correct if it were Both about when it should become active and about when it should..
OR any another parallel structure.
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by thephoenix » Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:53 pm
loveusonu wrote:
thephoenix wrote:
mohit11 wrote: So rule here is that One of the X takes plural verb when X is one of the many factors and Singular verb when X is an unique factor..
can u site some example where X is a unique factor and the verb is singular. Will be glad if u have something from OG where X is a unique factor....
Thanks
I am not Mohit but here is where I leart all the concepts about "one of the" , "the only one..." etc
https://www.beatthegmat.com/one-of-the-t40356.html


Hope that helps!
thanks for the help
but the question is i want to see the usage where it takes singular...as stated by mohit i.e is when X is unique factor and takes a singular verb....
i am just quoting what ron explained
if you have just ONE OF THE + PLURAL NOUN + WHO/THAT + ______, and it's NOT "the only one", THEN "____" MUST be a PLURAL VERB. zero exceptions
.

if the above and which i belive is definetly true then one of the X's who/that will always take a plural verb
mohit pls comment
[/quote]
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by mohit11 » Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:48 pm
thephoenix wrote:
loveusonu wrote:
thephoenix wrote:
mohit11 wrote: So rule here is that One of the X takes plural verb when X is one of the many factors and Singular verb when X is an unique factor..
can u site some example where X is a unique factor and the verb is singular. Will be glad if u have something from OG where X is a unique factor....
Thanks
I am not Mohit but here is where I leart all the concepts about "one of the" , "the only one..." etc
https://www.beatthegmat.com/one-of-the-t40356.html


Hope that helps!
thanks for the help
but the question is i want to see the usage where it takes singular...as stated by mohit i.e is when X is unique factor and takes a singular verb....
i am just quoting what ron explained
if you have just ONE OF THE + PLURAL NOUN + WHO/THAT + ______, and it's NOT "the only one", THEN "____" MUST be a PLURAL VERB. zero exceptions
.

if the above and which i belive is definetly true then one of the X's who/that will always take a plural verb
mohit pls comment
[/quote]

Well.. Consider the following sentence


Chocolate Chip is the only one of the flavors that appeal/appeals to me

There are many flavors of Ice cream but only Chocolate Chip appeals to me.. so we should use Appeals.. and not appeal

I don't have a OG question handy, will update this thread if and when i come across another question that tests this rule. Ideally, you need to break down the sentence to understand what the author intends to say. Is he trying to emphasize that the person/thing/factor in question is the only factor among many factors that can do a particular thing or only one of the many people/things/factors that can do the particular thing.

Rules can only help you to a point, then you need to really understand the author's intention.


RON's explaination is rock solid. You might want to review that thread again.
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by thephoenix » Sat May 01, 2010 1:40 am
mohit11 wrote:
thephoenix wrote:
loveusonu wrote:
thephoenix wrote:
mohit11 wrote: So rule here is that One of the X takes plural verb when X is one of the many factors and Singular verb when X is an unique factor..
can u site some example where X is a unique factor and the verb is singular. Will be glad if u have something from OG where X is a unique factor....
Thanks
I am not Mohit but here is where I leart all the concepts about "one of the" , "the only one..." etc
https://www.beatthegmat.com/one-of-the-t40356.html


Hope that helps!
thanks for the help
but the question is i want to see the usage where it takes singular...as stated by mohit i.e is when X is unique factor and takes a singular verb....
i am just quoting what ron explained
if you have just ONE OF THE + PLURAL NOUN + WHO/THAT + ______, and it's NOT "the only one", THEN "____" MUST be a PLURAL VERB. zero exceptions
.

if the above and which i belive is definetly true then one of the X's who/that will always take a plural verb
mohit pls comment
Well.. Consider the following sentence


Chocolate Chip is the only one of the flavors that appeal/appeals to me

There are many flavors of Ice cream but only Chocolate Chip appeals to me.. so we should use Appeals.. and not appeal

I don't have a OG question handy, will update this thread if and when i come across another question that tests this rule. Ideally, you need to break down the sentence to understand what the author intends to say. Is he trying to emphasize that the person/thing/factor in question is the only factor among many factors that can do a particular thing or only one of the many people/things/factors that can do the particular thing.

Rules can only help you to a point, then you need to really understand the author's intention.


RON's explaination is rock solid. You might want to review that thread again.[/quote]

again u are mixing two diff things
one of X's that/who _________plural verb is .......( this one always takes plural verb )
different from
the only one of X's that/who______singular verb
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by mohit11 » Sat May 01, 2010 1:59 am
Here are rules.. Picked up from Ron's explanation.


1. One of the Xs that/who <plural>


if this is NOT preceded by "the" or "the ADJ", then this is always plural.
(context hint: if there's no "the" or "the ADJ", then there are many X's who do this)
Quote:

2. One of the Xs <singular>

if this is "one of the Xs VERB"
and NOT one of the Xs THAT verb",
then yes, this is always singular.
(context hint: nothing to indicate that any of the other Xs do this; only one is known to do it)
Quote:

3. only One of the Xs <singular>

correct, as long as it's not "only one of the X's THAT..."
Quote:

4. only One of the Xs that/who <singular>


this is 2 different cases.

if it's "THE only one of the X's that/who...", then it should be SINGULAR.

if it's JUST "only one of the X's that/who...", then it should be PLURAL.
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by gmatrant » Sat May 01, 2010 4:43 am
This should help.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/usage-of-one ... 56874.html
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