Subject is Plural

[syflysun]

In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.

(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

What is subject? 20% percent? plural or single?

thanks

[madhur_ahuja]

In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.

(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell
(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall
(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls
(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen

What is subject? 20% percent? plural or single?

thanks

Subject is plural. 20% of (leaf and small-stem material) - Plural.

IMO B

[vishal1702]

IMO 20% should be the subject & singular as it gives the quantity(number)....dat leads me to choosing option D....
20% of the leaf and the small-stem material includes a prepositional phrase of the leaf and the small-stem material and a prepositional phrase is never part of the suject....correct me if I am wrong....

[madhur_ahuja]

IMO 20% should be the subject & singular as it gives the quantity(number)....dat leads me to choosing option D....
20% of the leaf and the small-stem material includes a prepositional phrase of the leaf and the small-stem material and a prepositional phrase is never part of the suject....correct me if I am wrong....

According to MGMAT:

In many expressions that designate quantities or parts, such as a number of, the subject of the sentence is in a of-prepositional phrase. These expressions provide the exception to the rule that subject cannot be in a prepositional phrase

[niraj_a]

on d-day i would have chosen D and moved on. the "leaves and plants" part has got to be plural.

[vishal1702]

IMO 20% should be the subject & singular as it gives the quantity(number)....dat leads me to choosing option D....
20% of the leaf and the small-stem material includes a prepositional phrase of the leaf and the small-stem material and a prepositional phrase is never part of the suject....correct me if I am wrong....

According to MGMAT:

In many expressions that designate quantities or parts, such as a number of, the subject of the sentence is in a of-prepositional phrase. These expressions provide the exception to the rule that subject cannot be in a prepositional phrase

Agreed....
but still subject seems to be singular??

[madhur_ahuja]

IMO 20% should be the subject & singular as it gives the quantity(number)....dat leads me to choosing option D....
20% of the leaf and the small-stem material includes a prepositional phrase of the leaf and the small-stem material and a prepositional phrase is never part of the suject....correct me if I am wrong....

According to MGMAT:

In many expressions that designate quantities or parts, such as a number of, the subject of the sentence is in a of-prepositional phrase. These expressions provide the exception to the rule that subject cannot be in a prepositional phrase

Agreed....
but still subject seems to be singular??

The part of of prepositional phrase is compound since it is sperated by and. Why do you think its singular ?

[vishal1702]

IMO 20% should be the subject & singular as it gives the quantity(number)....dat leads me to choosing option D....
20% of the leaf and the small-stem material includes a prepositional phrase of the leaf and the small-stem material and a prepositional phrase is never part of the suject....correct me if I am wrong....

According to MGMAT:

In many expressions that designate quantities or parts, such as a number of, the subject of the sentence is in a of-prepositional phrase. These expressions provide the exception to the rule that subject cannot be in a prepositional phrase

Agreed....
but still subject seems to be singular??

The part of of prepositional phrase is compound since it is sperated by and. Why do you think its singular ?

My mistake....it shld be plural....MGMAT is truly handy... :mrgreen:

[capnx]

isn't the OA = D? "...shatters and falls."
(Question 70: https://www.indicareer.com/sample-questi ... ns-13.html)

"as much as 20%", 20% is plural, but the main subject is "much", which is singular.

[vishal1702]

How about the explanation given in the following link:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/alfalfa-t30698.html

[arorag]

ans should be D...two things to see here
1. As much as ----non countable --MUCH--singular
2. 20 % of X and Y

Read as MUCH as 20 % of X and Y...basically it is non countable phrass
therefore
Singular

And D is correct...
PS- Don't give credit to me as these i found after some searchers

[tom4lax]

Setting aside the discussion between plural and singular, I narrowed the choices down to B & D, and elimated B based on the wordiness:

the most nutritious of all parts of the plant
the most nutritious parts of the plant

Acceptable reasoning?