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Saurabh Malpani
 
 

THcontinental United States receives an average of 30 inches

by Saurabh Malpani Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:06 am

The continental United States receives an average of 30 inches of precipitation a year; transpiration from soil and from plants returns approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, while the balance of 9 inches contributes to the flow of streams and rivers.

(A) transpiration from soil and from plants returns approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, while the balance of 9 inches contributes to the flow
(B) even though transpiration from soil and from plants returns approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, the remainder of 9 inches contribute to the flowing
(C) although transpiration from soil and from plants return approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, the balance of 9 inches contribute to the flowing
(D) with transpiration from soil and from plants to return approximately 21 inches to the atmosphere, the rest of the 9 inches contributes to the flow
(E) as transpiration from soil and from plants return approximately 21 of the 30 inches to the atmosphere, the rest of the 9 inches contribute to the flow


Source GMAT Prep.

isn't transpiration from soil and from plants compound subjects?

I always thought AND makes a subject compund???
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Re: THcontinental United States receives an average of 30 in

by RonPurewal Sun Jan 06, 2008 2:59 am

Saurabh Malpani Wrote:isn't transpiration from soil and from plants compound subjects?


nope.

this occurrence of 'and' does not make the subject compound, because it is contained within the prepositional phrases that modify the subject. the subject is still one word (transpiration), and is not in any way plural.

in particular, the subject is not transpiration AND anything else - it's just transpiration. there is more than one descriptive phrase, but those phrases are not part of the subject.
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by vietst Mon Jan 07, 2008 2:34 am

Is OA A?
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by StaceyKoprince Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:05 pm

yep, answer is A
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by sanj Fri May 16, 2008 2:10 am

skoprince Wrote:yep, answer is A


is 'rest of 9 inches' singular as 'balance of 9 inches' ?
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by RonPurewal Thu May 22, 2008 7:37 am

sanj Wrote:
skoprince Wrote:yep, answer is A


is 'rest of 9 inches' singular as 'balance of 9 inches' ?


yes.

notice that constructions involving numbers and units are, generally, singular - even if they aren't prefaced by such things as 'balance' or 'rest'. for instance,
fifteen dollars is far too much to pay for this item --> correct
fifteen dollars are far too much to pay for this item --> incorrect

same with feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps, etc. any quantity measured in these sorts of units is almost always singular, since units aren't things that are literally counted.
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Re:

by tankobe Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:33 am

RonPurewal Wrote:
sanj Wrote:
skoprince Wrote:yep, answer is A


is 'rest of 9 inches' singular as 'balance of 9 inches' ?


yes.

notice that constructions involving numbers and units are, generally, singular - even if they aren't prefaced by such things as 'balance' or 'rest'. for instance,
fifteen dollars is far too much to pay for this item --> correct
fifteen dollars are far too much to pay for this item --> incorrect

same with feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps, etc. any quantity measured in these sorts of units is almost always singular, since units aren't things that are literally counted.

still some quetion:
Nearly two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel have already been put into orbit around the Earth.[from GMATPrep]
in this question, two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel is plural. so can i conclude that:
XX feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps is singular;
XX feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps of N[wether N is countable or not] is plural.

question 2: X percent of N
60 percent of students come from USA, while 30 percent are[or is?] from China.
the reference:[30 inches of precipitation ..... the rest of 9 inches contribute to]

so the two sentence is quite similar, but one go with are[plural] and another with contribute[singular], why?
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Re: Re:

by RonPurewal Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:02 am

tankobe Wrote:still some quetion:
Nearly two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel have already been put into orbit around the Earth.[from GMATPrep]
in this question, two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel is plural. so can i conclude that:
XX feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps is singular;
XX feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps of N[wether N is countable or not] is plural.


i think it's incredibly perceptive of you to notice this.

an alternative hypothesis, however, is that they are simply being less careful about this particular construction because it is not underlined; i really don't think it is a universal rule that this sort of thing is plural.
for instance, every bit of my writer's instinct tells me that "150 amps of direct current were coursing through his body" is incorrect, but, for some reason, the version you've quoted above (about tons of trash) doesn't sound similarly incorrect.

the worst-case hypothesis is that this is actually a matter of idiomatic usage that must be decided on a case-by-case basis. if that's the case, then the best we can do is collect as many examples as possible, with dispositive examples (i.e., those that involve differentiated choices within the underlined part) recorded much more importance than non-dispositive examples (i.e., those in which the important part appears completely outside the underline, or appears within the underline but in the same form all five times).

question 2: X percent of N
60 percent of students come from USA, while 30 percent are[or is?] from China.
the reference:[30 inches of precipitation ..... the rest of 9 inches contribute to]

so the two sentence is quite similar, but one go with are[plural] and another with contribute[singular], why?


fortunately, this one is a lot easier to answer.

if you've got a fraction of NOUN or a percentage of NOUN, you retain the singular/plural nature of NOUN.
so, since "students" is clearly a plural noun, so is "x% of students". since "precipitation" is clearly a singular noun, "50% of the precipitation" would also be a singular noun.
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Re: THcontinental United States receives an average of 30 inches

by davetzulin Sun May 27, 2012 7:29 pm

Is it correct that "while" is being used to indicate "simultaneity" in answer choice A?

then i notice a lot of the answer choices try to mimic the "while" as the contrast version and are therefore wrong: "even though", "although"

Trying to see if this problem can be attacked using meaning.
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Re: THcontinental United States receives an average of 30 inches

by jnelson0612 Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:09 pm

davetzulin Wrote:Is it correct that "while" is being used to indicate "simultaneity" in answer choice A?

then i notice a lot of the answer choices try to mimic the "while" as the contrast version and are therefore wrong: "even though", "although"

Trying to see if this problem can be attacked using meaning.


Dave, good catch, and yes, I agree with your observation.
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Re: Re:

by jp.jprasanna Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:06 am

RonPurewal Wrote:
tankobe Wrote:still some quetion:
Nearly two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel have already been put into orbit around the Earth.[from GMATPrep]
in this question, two tons of nuclear-reactor fuel is plural. so can i conclude that:
XX feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps is singular;
XX feet, gallons, inches, ohms, amps of N[wether N is countable or not] is plural.


i think it's incredibly perceptive of you to notice this.

an alternative hypothesis, however, is that they are simply being less careful about this particular construction because it is not underlined; i really don't think it is a universal rule that this sort of thing is plural.
for instance, every bit of my writer's instinct tells me that "150 amps of direct current were coursing through his body" is incorrect, but, for some reason, the version you've quoted above (about tons of trash) doesn't sound similarly incorrect.

the worst-case hypothesis is that this is actually a matter of idiomatic usage that must be decided on a case-by-case basis. if that's the case, then the best we can do is collect as many examples as possible, with dispositive examples (i.e., those that involve differentiated choices within the underlined part) recorded much more importance than non-dispositive examples (i.e., those in which the important part appears completely outside the underline, or appears within the underline but in the same form all five times).

question 2: X percent of N
60 percent of students come from USA, while 30 percent are[or is?] from China.
the reference:[30 inches of precipitation ..... the rest of 9 inches contribute to]

so the two sentence is quite similar, but one go with are[plural] and another with contribute[singular], why?


fortunately, this one is a lot easier to answer.

if you've got a fraction of NOUN or a percentage of NOUN, you retain the singular/plural nature of NOUN.
so, since "students" is clearly a plural noun, so is "x% of students". since "precipitation" is clearly a singular noun, "50% of the precipitation" would also be a singular noun.


Many thanks.

So to conclude B C and E can be knocked because of Subject verb agreement right?

the balance / the rest / the reminder of 9 inches contributeS]

D uses Wrong preposition "With" hence A

Pls correct me, if I'm wrong.

Cheers
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Re: THcontinental United States receives an average of 30 inches

by tim Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:49 pm

i agree, but i would actually argue that E's subject/verb agreement problem is in a different part of the sentence. see if you can figure out where that is..
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Re: THcontinental United States receives an average of 30 inches

by jp.jprasanna Sun Jul 01, 2012 1:24 pm

tim Wrote:i agree, but i would actually argue that E's subject/verb agreement problem is in a different part of the sentence. see if you can figure out where that is..


ohhh yeah - transpiration from soil and from plants return

should be

transpiration from soil and from plants returnS

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Re: THcontinental United States receives an average of 30 inches

by tim Tue Jul 03, 2012 6:37 am

:)
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Re: Re:

by lemonperb Sun Jun 01, 2014 7:04 am

jp.jprasanna Wrote:D uses Wrong preposition "With" hence A
Cheers


Hi GMAT instructors,
So D is wrong because of the wrong preposition "with"?
Is it because "with" can only be used such as:
1.with+N.+V-ed/ing;
2.with+N.+adj.
In D, "with...to do" is problematic?
What if D is revised to: "with transpiration from soil and from plants returning approximately 21 inches to the atmosphere, the rest of the 9 inches contributes to the flow"?
Will choice D make sense then?