One in five Americans who work shorter hours at their job in order to

Hello, NandishSS. Yes, this is a confusing question, but I will do my best to get to the bottom of each answer choice. How about we have a look?


I have highlighted the beginning of the who clause to indicate that although we are dealing with a singular subject of one in the main clause, the relative pronoun who after Americans triggers a plural subject-verb agreement. The idea is that we are talking about a group of Americans who do something, singling out a member of that group for discussion. Crucially, without the relative pronoun (i.e. who), the sentence would require a singular subject-verb agreement instead. Please see this post on the topic, a collection of dedicated notes originally from Ron Purewal. Thus, one in five Americans who work... save is absolutely fine. The one debatable point I find in this option is the use of the singular job, which makes it sound as though we are referring back to the individual, an especially odd time to do so, since it follows the plural pronoun their. I would not get rid of this answer choice right away, but I would keep looking.


Okay, this is another tricky answer, but one that can be disproved with a closer look at subject-verb agreement. You might recall that an -ing modifier without a comma modifies the preceding noun, so their is correct to agree with Americans. But then we get saves later on, and if we are talking about Americans as a group in the rest of the sentence, the earlier part, then we need the verb to be save for the sake of consistency. By using saves, the sentence shifts the focus back to the individual, which makes it seem as if their refers—incorrectly—to that same individual. Even though gender-neutral pronouns are in vogue right now, at least in the United States, standardized grammar rules tend to be slower to catch up, and as of this writing, their must still refer to a plural subject.


Yet another arcane grammar rule is on display here. After what I wrote above for choice (A), how could I reject this option for the same plural subject-verb agreement? It all has to do with the article the at the head of the sentence, which is used to indicate the one and only, a singular subject. So, despite the one in five... who construct, the the overrides everything. The agreement must be the one in five Americans who works.


Sure, there are more words, but the meaning here is crystal clear, and the subject-verb agreement is perfect.


Another easy elimination, this time on the grounds that the sentence, without a comma after job creates a run-on. We do not even have to consider whether anything else is off. Take it as a gift, given some of the other choices.

There you have it. I hope that helps clarify your areas of concern. Choice (D) is the best of the bunch, but whoever designed the original question must have been combing through the back of some unabridged and quite lengthy grammar guide.

Thank you for tagging me on this one, and best of luck with your studies.

- Andrew
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Dear jubilee777,
I'm happy to help.

Choice (B) has a few problems. First of all, the subject of the sentence, "one", is singular, so the main verb must be singular, but (B) has the plural verb "save". Also, (A) & (B) have a pronoun problem --- the "their", a plural pronoun, refers back to "one", which is singular. Issues with SV agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement become very tricky with indefinite pronouns & modifiers. See this post:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... agreement/

Also, (A) & (B) & (C) all have a logical error --- it's unclear whether the "working" or "who work" is designed to modify all Americans or only the one in five. The grammatical structure could suggest that of all the Americans who work shorter hours, one in five of this subgroup do so to care for an elder. That's what the grammar is implying, but clearly that's not what the sentence is trying to say.

Choice (D) elegantly and correctly says what the sentence is trying to say. Choice (D) is the best answer.

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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You are free to deviate from the original in order to "fix" the meaning of the sentence. The original sentence does not have clear meaning and needs significant changes in order to convey proper meaning. In general, stick with the original intent of the sentence except when that intent is flawed. When flawed, choose an answer that conveys proper meaning.

KW
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Looks like A. Am not too sure of the OA D.
maybe GMATNinja or VeritasKarishma can help with this official question

A) is wrong because their job implies one in five americans is singular, but the verb at the end save implies it is plural. B) and C) mix up plural/singular as well. The beginning part of E) is awkward/doesn't fit with the sentence, and the it at the end is ambiguous. D) everything is correct, but I agree it doesn't sound great.


A. One in five Americans who work shorter hours at their job in order to provide care for an elderly relative save

B. One in five Americans working shorter hours at their jobs in order to provide care for an elderly relative saves

C. The one in five Americans who work shorter hours at a job in order to provide care for an elderly relative saves

D. Those Americans, approximately one-fifth of all employees, who work shorter hours at a job in order to care for an elderly relative save

E. Providing care for an elderly relative, approximately one-fifth of all American employees work shorter hours at a job and it saves

HI GMATNinja, GMATGuruNY, MentorTutoring, generis, GMATRockstar,

Can you please help me with this SC. It's a bit confusing.
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Can someone explain clearly what's wrong with option B

One in five Americans working shorter hours at their jobs in order to provide care for an elderly relative saves --> verb 'saves' is singular since the subject ' one in five Americans' is singular
And 'their' seems to be a correct pronoun for both singular and plural subjects

Posted from my mobile device

Can I know why in option B, the verb 'saves' doesn't agree with the singular subject 'one in five americans'?

in Choice (D), I am not sure what is who modifying?
one-fifth of all employees, who work...

Who can modify all employees or the entire one-fifth of all employees, if it modifies the former the meaning is not conveyed, I am not sure what am I missing here. but in a sentence like this, how do I decide what entity is who modifying?
since it takes the plural verb work, all employees as well as one-fifth of all employees fit the grammar rule.


Please advise

Choice D seems to say something fundamentally different from the original. The original did not discuss only employees. Self proprietors, contractors, and non-working Americans were also included in the group from whom the one in five was selected. Choice D distorts this into only one in five employees and ignores those other groups. Given this is a fundamentally different claim, I don’t see how it can be the best choice.

Posted from my mobile device

Hi AndrewN,

You should have made it public before changing your name from mentortutoring
Unable to find you to clear my doubts

So here, I am still confused on option B.
You correctly said about nuon modifier but still our main subject is"one in five americans" and "saves" is the correct verb.
I believe both their and saves used correctly here.
Please clarify.

Ha ha. I did not know my name change would prove problematic. My apologies. I just wanted to emerge from behind the business I was representing and become more of a person, you know? Perhaps I took a cue from the former moderator known as Hazelnut. (There were a few others who switched names or profile pics right around the same time.) In any case, on to the matter at hand.

A pared down version of (B) reveals that the sentence wavers between a singular and plural subject, and that is the real issue with it. Take a look at just the subject, pronoun, and verb:

One in five Americans working shorter hours at their jobs in order to provide care for an elderly relative saves...

If one in five Americans is plural, and it is, then their jobs is fine. But that would not agree with the later saves. We would be saying that one in five Americans saves... by working shorter hours at their jobs. That sounds singular, but now their jobs is off, indicating plurality instead. Even if you want to argue that we are discussing a subset of Americans who work multiple jobs, the pronoun their is untenable with the verb saves. A singular pronoun would be needed instead: his, her. This is a tough question, but by focusing on the basics, you can break it down and expose the flaws in the incorrect answer choices.

I hope that helps shed a little more light on the matter. If not, you know how to find me at least.

- Andrew
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Hi Sir AndrewN

Indeed a tricky questions

A few queries

You mentioned : one in five Americans who work... save is absolutely fine
Should it not be SAVES: One of XX who WORK <plural verb> SAVES <Singular verb >
In the link you mentioned I find verb after who should be plural, but in A option , save is main verb .
Maybe I missed something. Please help me out here.


Not a question particular for B option but in general.
Can we use their jobs in scenarios such as:
Many Americans have their jobs with salary over 100k USD per annum.
( what I want to highlight is : say each person has one job and we say in general that Americans have their jobs xx. So these jobs refer to Americans , not that one person has many jobs). So in such a sentence, it is ok to write their jobs ?


Can we reject C on basis on usage of “THE”, because according to meaning, we are talking in general not specific to any person? So one is preferred over the one?
(specific group : the German team; Gmatclub , the one among many clubs . in this SC, we are talking in general , not to any specific group)
So “ the” is wrong here. Please confirm

Thanks !

Hello again, imSKR. My responses will be in line below.


No, you have it just right from the link. The verb should agree with Americans, not with one. But you cannot refer to a single person using the pronoun their, at least not on the GMAT™, which is all that matters in this discussion. (In all honesty, I would almost be afraid not to use a gender-neutral pronoun in such a case right now in real life, given the current social climate in the U.S.)


Their would be appropriate in the sentence above because the subject is many Americans (i.e. not just one), and the context suggests that these different people will not collectively hold one job, so again, the plural jobs would be fitting.


No, you cannot reject (C) on the basis that it uses the. For all we know, the sentence could be drawing our attention to the one in five Americans, a single person who belongs to a larger group. But the verb needs to agree with such a singular subject, so who work should be who works instead.

These are all subtle issues, but they can come up on the GMAT™. Given the level of difficulty of this question, I would say that most test-takers would get caught up in all the verbiage without being able to focus on the simple concerns (i.e. subject-verb agreement).

I hope that helps. Thank you, as always, for thinking to ask me about the question, and good luck with your studies.

- Andrew
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Hi Sir

I think i am missing something ,

From the link:
1. One of the X's that/who <plural>
4. Only one of the X's that/who <plural>
here it says plural verb should be right after that/who

If we check the option A:
we have already plural verb after that/who

One [in five Americans who work shorter hours at their job in order to provide care for an elderly relative] save society millions of dollars [that would ordinarily be required for nursing homes or other long-term care facilities]

save is right because we have "their jobs "
or
we can change to SAVES if their is changed to his/her (job) or one's(job)

so
below sentences would be right:
One in five Americans who working shorter hours at their job in order to provide care for an elderly relative save society millions of dollars [that would ordinarily be required for nursing homes or other long-term care facilities]
or
One in five Americans who work shorter hours at one's job in order to provide care for an elderly relative saveS society millions of dollars [that would ordinarily be required for nursing homes or other long-term care facilities]

Please confirm.

Hi AndrewN GMATNinja egmat

In option B and C, why can't the verb work refer to the bigger group of Americans who work shorter. In that, way saves would make sense with one. Yes, the meaning would be different, but that makes sense too and is also a part of the original sentence. 5 Americans were shorter hours, out of that 1 saves money.
Plz. refer below to explain my point better:

The one [in five Americans who work shorter hours at a job in order to provide care for an elderly relative ]saves

Hello, shanks2020. I have no problem with the subject-verb agreement of the non-bracketed part in the sentence above; however, the issue lies with the agreement of the one + work. One in five Americans who work is appropriate, but as soon as you add the in front, it flips the switch such that the whole subject falls under the one, and you cannot say the one... who work. That is really all that lies behind this question, different variations of the same subject-verb agreement issues, whether at the beginning of the sentence or at the latter part.

I hope that helps; if not, feel free to inquire further. Thank you for calling my attention to your question.

- Andrew
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Hi AndrewN

Thanks for the swift reply.
As you mentioned that you have no issues with the non-bracketed part, then why should the verb "work" which i kept inside the bracket be an issue? why can't its subject be 5 Americans? if that makes a logical sense, then it should also be correct?

I reply when I can, shanks2020; to date, I have not failed to reply to a direct mention post in less than 24 hours. Regarding the sentence at hand, again, I have no trouble with the part not in brackets, but you cannot arbitrarily flip the switch between singular subject (of the main clause) and plural subject (as the object of the preposition) as you see fit. Either one in five Americans work and save, or you need to single out the one American and have him or her work and save instead: the one American works and saves. You cannot refer to one person in the manner written above, jump out of discussing that one person to talking about a group instead, then return to the person later on, not without further punctuation or phrasing changes. I typically refrain from providing such spinoff sentences because SC answer sets are crafted in such a way as to lead to a single correct answer, and what-if scenarios do not apply to the given set of choices.

I hope that makes more sense now. This is a convoluted sentence that tests a basic concept at its core: subject-verb agreement, nothing more and nothing less.

- Andrew
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