Princeton pg no.509....SC--Pronoun error

[prachich1987]

The public's general concern about the solvency of the social security trust fund and their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market has led to a rise in interest in Individual Retirement Accounts or IRAs.

a) and their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market has
a) and they have overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market which has
a) as well as their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market, has
a) as well as overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market, have
e) and its overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market have


Source :Princeton
OA : After some discussion

[jaxis]

It shud be E

D is wrong because "Have" should be "has" be cause additives result in a singular subject.

[Tani]

Only "and" joins two nouns/pronouns to create a plural subject. Terms such as "as well as", "plus", "also", etc. do not create plural subjects.

Joe and Sam are going to the party.

Joe, as well as Sam, is going to the party.

[prachich1987]

Thanks Tani & Jaxis
The OA is E

[gmat1011]

"its" in e cannot refer back to public as public's is in a possessive form... its has nothing to relate back to

it should be d... you need a "have" with an 'and' not a has...

[gmat1011]

didnt read d closely enough... as well as cant have "have" so d is out...

actually in e: how can "its" work? there is no "public" here?

[captcha]

IMO C

[Tani]

A possessive pronoun can refer to a posessive noun.

Joe's hat and his coat were on the table.

[gmat1011]

ok thanks Tani... i think that in summary must be the dreaded possessive poison rule --- had there been a sentence which somehow managed to fit an "it" instead of an "its" in this context then the use of "it" would have been improper...

[Tani]

Never heard of the rule, but possessive to possessive works.

[Coop]

The public's general concern about the solvency of the social security trust fund and their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market has led to a rise in interest in Individual Retirement Accounts or IRAs.

a) and their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market has
a) and they have overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market which has
a) as well as their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market, has
a) as well as overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market, have
e) and its overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market have


I think if we find the subject of the sentence it will make finding the answer much easier in my opinion. The subject is the public's general concern and it is singular. Knowing this we can emliminate answers a, b, and c. Now we are down to answers D and E. D is incorrect because the public is concern about two things and those concerns should be connected with "and" not "as well as." Plus, the comma before "have" makes the sentence awkward. E is correct becasue it has "and" plus the pronoun "its" correctly refers back to the public's concern, which is singular.

I hope this helps.

[prachich1987]

The public's general concern about the solvency of the social security trust fund and their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market has led to a rise in interest in Individual Retirement Accounts or IRAs.

a) and their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market has
a) and they have overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market which has
a) as well as their overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market, has
a) as well as overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market, have
e) and its overall faith in the long-term growth of the stock market have


I think if we find the subject of the sentence it will make finding the answer much easier in my opinion. The subject is the public's general concern and it is singular. Knowing this we can emliminate answers a, b, and c. Now we are down to answers D and E. D is incorrect because the public is concern about two things and those concerns should be connected with "and" not "as well as." Plus, the comma before "have" makes the sentence awkward. E is correct becasue it has "and" plus the pronoun "its" correctly refers back to the public's concern, which is singular.

I hope this helps.

thanks coop ..nicely explained!!!