Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component of municipa

You're getting confused between two constructions: "S-A-N-A-M noun/noun phrase verb" and "S-A-N-A-M of noun/noun phrase verb".

In the second case, the noun directly following the "of" directly after the "all" or other S-A-N-A-M word should determine the number of the verb. So all of the following examples are correct: "All of the paper is", "All of the kinds are", "All of the kinds of paper are" — note in the last example with the noun phrase "kinds of paper" how we skip over the prepositional phrase "of paper" describing "kinds". A similar correct example: "All of the paper of different kinds is".

However, we don't have an "of" directly after "all" in this example. This means we're dealing with the first case. In the first case, the noun directly following the "all" or other S-A-N-A-M word should determine the number of the verb. So all of the following examples are correct: "All paper is", "All kinds are", "All kinds of paper are" — note again in the last example with the noun phrase "kinds of paper" how we skip over the prepositional phrase "of paper" describing "kinds". A similar correct example: "All paper of different kinds is".

Moral of the story, pay attention to what your prepositions (like "of") are doing — are they describing your S-A-N-A-M word, or are they describing another noun and thus don't matter to the construction?

A should be correct... and reason for E not being correct- 'All kinds of paper is the biggest single component of municipal trash, so many municipalities have tried to recycle so that the cost of trash disposal could be reduced.'
all kinds require a plural verb 'are'...usage of 'so' at two places does not serve any purpose...moreover 2nd half of sentence is wordy with words like 'could' etc
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My take:

A - Correct: "paper of all kinds IS" used the right verb, second clause is concise.
B - Same right verb use but second clause is unnecessarily wordy.
C - "paper of all kinds ARE" is incorrect
D - "All kinds of paper ARE" is correct but "and so" is unidiomatic
E - "All kinds of paper IS" is incorrect

"component of" is correct idiom.....X is a component of Y

Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component of municipal trash, many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal.

(A) Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component of municipal trash, many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal.

(B) Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component in municipal trash, many municipalities tried to recycle so that the cost of trash disposal is reduced.

(C) Because paper of all kinds are the biggest single components of municipal trash, many municipalities have tried to recycle to reduce the cost of trash disposal.

(D) All kinds of paper are the biggest single components of municipal trash, and so many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal. - awkward

(E) All kinds of paper is the biggest single component of municipal trash, so many municipalities have tried to recycle so that the cost of trash disposal could be reduced. - awkward

(A) Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component of municipal trash, many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal. --- Best choice.

(B) Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component in municipal trash, many municipalities tried to recycle so that the cost of trash disposal is reduced. -- Correct Sv pair, 'component in' is wrong. Also using past tense changed the meaning of it.

(C) Because paper of all kinds are the biggest single components in municipal trash, many municipalities have tried to recycle to reduce the cost of trash disposal. --- Sv problem, paper with 'are'

(D) All kinds of paper are the biggest single components of municipal trash, and so many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal. --- Correct SV pair. 'and so' feeling off now.

(E) All kinds of paper is the biggest single component of municipal trash, so many municipalities have tried to recycle so that the cost of trash disposal could be reduced. --- Sv problem, kinds with 'is'

Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component of municipal trash, many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal.

.



Wordy



Paper are the biggest single components-- Singular Subject, Plural verb--Wrong



All kinds are the single components---Kinds cannot be components



All kinds are the single components---Kinds cannot be components

(A) Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component of municipal trash, many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal.

(B) Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component in municipal trash, many municipalities tried to recycle so that the cost of trash disposal is reduced.
Had a harder time with B, but I eliminated because "tried to recycle so that" really is an inefficient way of saying "tried to recycle to reduce the cost of trash disposal", which is actually in A

SV Agreement issues- Don't get fooled by the "all kinds" contained in the preposition.
(C) Because paper of all kinds are the biggest single components in municipal trash, many municipalities have tried to recycle to reduce the cost of trash disposal.

(D) All kinds of paper are the biggest single components of municipal trash, and so many municipalities have tried recycling to reduce the cost of trash disposal.

E then changes the subject to "All kinds", plural, but still uses a singular "is"
(E) All kinds of paper is the biggest single component of municipal trash, so many municipalities have tried to recycle so that the cost of trash disposal could be reduced.

I have a doubt here about "All kinds of paper is".

When we use S-A-N-A-M words, the verb depends on object of SANAM word.
Such as
All of information is...
or
All of information are ...

According to your explaination, All kinds of paper are....is correct.

Please explain.

But A is wrong as two independent clauses are joined only by a single comma. This is big violation of grammar.
In the first clause "Paper" is the subject and" is" the verb and similarly in second clause "municipalities" is the subject and "have tried" is the verb which makes both clauses independent. Clearly two independent cluases can be joined only by semicolon or by " ,+FANBOYS ". Somebody plz help.

Hi Piyush, following is not an Independent clause:

Because paper of all kinds is the biggest single component of municipal trash

It is (what's called) a Dependent clause and hence, option A is not a violation of any grammar rule.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Dependent & Independent clauses, their application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.
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Piyush

Why did you drop the subordinate conjunction(because) at the beginning of the entire sentence, which has already connected both the DC and IC? All subordinate clauses are only connected by a comma with their main clauses. I hope you get the picture.
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ParamjitDasGMAT sir,

Can you throw some light on option B?
Why is option B wrong as compared to option A?

Thanks

Hi krndatta, I'm happy to help. First, let's compare the two options side by side:


Firstly, there's a slight difference in terms of meaning between "try to do something" (as in Option B) and "try doing something" (as in Option A). "Try to do something" carries the implication that "X" is some task or activity that is somewhat difficult and the municipalities are trying to do this task. Additionally, the "X" in this case has to be a "verb". On the other hand, "try doing something" implies that these blokes have other options, and this something is just one of the many options that they're trying out. In this case, the "something" is a (noun-like) gerund. To understand the difference better, we can consider the following 2 sentences:

• He tried to open the window -- suggests that, for example, the window was shut tight or stuck, and he tried to open it by force
• He tried opening the window -- suggests that, for example, he was feeling hot, and he tried opening the window to feel cooler. Maybe he tried other things as well, e.g., turning on the AC, fan, and so forth.

There is a difference wrt tense between (A) and (B) -- and here the present perfect (have tried) does make a bit more contextual sense than the simple past (tried), simply because the first half of the subordinate clause states a stone-cold fact, and if the independent clause uses a simple past, the sense of the sentence is a bit incomplete (They tried to recycle....And then what? When did they do it? What happened after? Why are we mentioning what these blokes did in the past without a time reference? As we can see, a lot of these questions remain unanswered, puzzling the reader as to why this single sentence was written in the first place). A GMAT SC question always conveys some sort of a story, and the story conveyed via B is, at best, sketchy and evasive.

This is, however, beside the point, as the more crucial differentiator between (A) and (B) -- and one reason for definitively eliminating (B) on grammatical grounds - is that when "to recycle" is used as a verb in B, it needs to be used transitively and with a direct object.We cannot simply say something along the lines of "They recycled" and leave it at that -- we need an object for the verb (What did they recycle? Paper? Pen? Plastic? Glass?..or something else? ). Using "recycling" as a gerund -- since now it refers to the process of recycling -- avoids this problem, making (A) a more appropriate option than (B).

There is also a difference between the active and passive voice constructions in (A) and (B), and while this shouldn't be used as the first or primary reason for elimination, an active voice sentence is more direct, punchy, and to the point. This is particularly true when we want to convey the "intent" or "purpose" of people.

All of these points, depending on which you select, make Option (A) correct and/or more superior to Option (B).

Hope this helps, and thank you for considering asking me this query.

Hello krndatta,

We hope this finds you well.

To answer your query, Option B alters the meaning of the sentence through the phrase “tried + to + recycle”; the use of the infinitive verb form (“to + base form of verb” – “to + recycle” in this sentence) incorrectly implies that many municipalities have tried to recycle in order to achieve a certain effect, but it is uncertain whether they were able to recycle; the intended meaning is that many municipalities have, successfully, recycled in an attempt to achieve a certain effect. Further, Option B incorrectly uses the simple past tense verb “tried” to refer to an action that concluded in the past but continues to have an effect on the present; please remember the present perfect tense (marked by the use of the helping verb “has/have”) is used to describe events that concluded in the past but continue to affect the present.

To understand the concept of "Present Perfect Tense" on GMAT, you may want to watch the following video (~1 minute):



All the best!
Experts' Global Team
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Hello expert,
Could you help on choice D? Where is D wrong? Just because “and so” is unidiomatic? Thanks

We should say "the biggest single component" and not "the biggest single components".

"and so" is fine.
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