Singular/Plural

This topic has expert replies
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:08 am
Thanked: 1 times

Singular/Plural

by minar » Wed Dec 22, 2010 9:20 pm
Which one will be correct?

The list of animals that shows...
or
The list of animals that show...

I have got such a SC problem in GMATPrep, and interestingly the correct one was The list of animals that show...

Can anyone help me with explanation?

Thanks.
Source: — Sentence Correction |

User avatar
Community Manager
Posts: 991
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:19 am
Location: Bangalore, India
Thanked: 146 times
Followed by:24 members

by shovan85 » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:30 pm
minar wrote:Which one will be correct?

The list of animals that shows...
or
The list of animals that show...

I have got such a SC problem in GMATPrep, and interestingly the correct one was The list of animals that show...

Can anyone help me with explanation?

Thanks.
Hmm!! I have seen this in a different way. See the below examples...

She is one of the girls that/who are in the high school.

In the above statement, "She" is the object of the group "girls". If the Group is followed by That/Who then the immediate verb will take Plural form.

General Rule: Y is one of the Xs THAT/WHO Plural Verb .

She is one of the girls eats Burger.

If the Group is not followed by THAT or WHO then the verb will take singular form.

General Rule: Y is one of the Xs Singular Verb .

These rules are explicitly stated in many GMAT preparatory materials. So now coming back to your problem, in the above examples what I have shown if we replace the ONE with LIST that will be absolutely fine.

So, below are the two correct sentences for your query:

The list of animals shows... (see that is removed, so shows refers to list)
or
The list of animals that show... (show refers to animals)
If the problem is Easy Respect it, if the problem is tough Attack it

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:08 am
Thanked: 1 times

by minar » Thu Dec 23, 2010 12:19 am
shovan85,
Thank you very much for valuable help. Much appreciated :)

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 645
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 12:42 pm
Location: US
Thanked: 527 times
Followed by:227 members

by e-GMAT » Thu Dec 23, 2010 6:37 am
minar wrote:Which one will be correct?

The list of animals that shows...
or
The list of animals that show...

I have got such a SC problem in GMATPrep, and interestingly the correct one was The list of animals that show...

Can anyone help me with explanation?

Thanks.
Whether show is singular or plural depends on whether "that" refers to animals (plural) or list (singular). And this determination is made by the context of the sentence.

The list of animals that shows their date of birth was provided by the department of animal shelter. (Here that clause refers to list. I have also marked the main verb in the sentence for the subject - list)
The list of animals that show their skills in the circus now contains over 1000 animals. (Here that clause refers to animals. I have also marked the main verb in the sentence for the subject - list)

Thus, you need to understand the context of the sentence to determine the correct number of the verb.

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:08 am
Thanked: 1 times

by minar » Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:47 am
@e-GMAT
GMAT Instructor,

I see...
Your explanation is more convincing. Thanks a lot!!!

• Page 1 of 1