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Intern
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
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Hi everyone,
i am new in this forum and just wanted to clarify one confusion I have. Please send answer with explanation to the SC below:
A majority of the voters want to unseat the incumbent.
1. want
2. wants
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Manager
Joined: 15 Aug 2005
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I pick 1, because voters is plural.
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Intern
Joined: 19 Aug 2005
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No. Not 1. That confused me. Please can anyone explain this one?
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Manager
Joined: 09 Nov 2004
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2
majority is the subject here.....which is singular, hence wants will be used.
_________________
Thanks!
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Manager
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I still think "want" is correct. Can someone confirm the answer?
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Intern
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No.2 wants is the OA.
An example on Majority was discussed in this forum, which went as below:
The majority of the members of GMAT Club are going to score more than 700 in the GMAT.
Here, it was explained that majority/ minority/ plurality can be singular or plural depending on their context. When they refer to the many parts of the totality, they are plural.
When they refer to the totality itself they are sigular. eg, The students majority is opposed to the new grade classification.
My confusion is in both the first two examples I have mentioned they referred to many parts of the totality. If this is true, then why is the answer 'wants' correct in the first example.
Can someone please explain clearly the difference in answer in the examples?
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Manager
Joined: 15 Aug 2005
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Here is another example,
A majority of the international journalists surveyed view nuclear power stations as unsafe at present but think that they will be or could be made sufficiently safe in the future.
I am also waiting for someone to shed some light on this...
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Intern
Joined: 18 Aug 2005
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A majority [of the voters] wants to unseat the incumbent.
"of the voters" is a pharse that modifies the nucleus of the subject which is singular. singular nouns need singular verbs.
other examples are:
x alone with many...
x with many .....
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