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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before

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mikemcgarry
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before [#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2012, 12:20
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.
(A) are debated about in no less than
(B) are debated in no less than
(C) is debated about in no fewer than
(D) is debated in no fewer than
(E) is debated in no less than

See a full discussion of the grammar involved at:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/substantiv ... -the-gmat/
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2013, 18:34
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.
(A) are debated about in no less than
(B) are debated in no less than
(C) is debated about in no fewer than
(D) is debated in no fewer than
(E) is debated in no less than

For a complete discussion of substantive clauses (a.k.a nominal clauses, a.k.a noun clauses) ---including the very tricky issue of noun-clauses and subject-verb agreement --- as well as a full explanation of this particular question, see this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/substantiv ... -the-gmat/

Mike :-)
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Why the various Generals of the Army [#permalink] New post   17 May 2015, 09:05
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.

a)are debated about in no less than
b)are debated in no less than
c)is debated about in no fewer than
d)is debated in no fewer than
e)is debated in no less than
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 05 Dec 2012, 09:57
Clearly fewer refers to journals that are countable

C is ackward and not fluent

D it is :)

Ciao Mike

Originally posted by carcass on 03 Dec 2012, 12:59.
Last edited by carcass on 05 Dec 2012, 09:57, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac [#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2012, 14:25
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mikemcgarry wrote:
Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.
(A) are debated about in no less than
(B) are debated in no less than
(C) is debated about in no fewer than
(D) is debated in no fewer than
(E) is debated in no less than

See a full discussion of the grammar involved at:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/substantiv ... -the-gmat/


Why X were so singularly successful against Y IS blah blah. Therefore "are" is incorrect and hence A & B are out.

C - "Is debated about" is unidiomatic, wordy and just plain awkward

E - "is debated in no less than" is incorrect since we are using numbers (five hundred) so "fewer" is preferred.

D is the only remaining choice that fixes all the errors.
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac [#permalink] New post   03 Dec 2012, 14:27
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.
(A) are debated about in no less than should be singular is instead of are
(B) are debated in no less than should be singular is instead of are
(C) is debated about in no fewer than debated about is unidiomatic. should be debated
(D) is debated in no fewer than Correct!!!
(E) is debated in no less thanless should not be used with countable quantity

IMO, answer is D.
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac [#permalink] New post   04 Dec 2012, 08:53
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Subject Verb error :
is/are -- "is" is correct as the subject is Singular. This cancels option A and B
less/ fewer -- "fewer" is to be used in case of countable quantity. This cancels option E
We are now left with C and D.

Debated about could be unidiomatic or awkward construction. Hence the incorrect choice.
The choice D conveys the correct meaning.
Hence D is correct
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army before Grant [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2013, 20:41
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I go with (C) , though I still wonder the need for "about"
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army before Grant [#permalink] New post   07 Jan 2013, 23:15
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vickymancer07 wrote:
I go with (C) , though I still wonder the need for "about"

What is your logic for picking (C) over (D)?
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army before Grant [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2013, 00:11
Hi Mike,

With my initial round of POE , it was either (C) or (D) but I was not sure whether to go for "Debate"or "Debate about".

From your blog I just read that "debate about"is awkward and not idiomatic , so then its (D)

Cheers!
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army before Grant [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2013, 07:33
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I like this sentence with multiple modifiers.

Basically the key words is generals so plural and this can lead us to think "are" but is misleading.

hre we are talking about a question so the right verb is \("is"\)

Then we have to take in account generals so fewer (countable) and C is ackward

D is the best
;)
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army before Grant [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2013, 21:08
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mikemcgarry wrote:
Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.
(A) are debated about in no less than
(B) are debated in no less than
(C) is debated about in no fewer than
(D) is debated in no fewer than
(E) is debated in no less than



"Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee" is a single fact and should proceed with singular verb is. Eliminating A,B

As five hundred is countable number, So, we can't use less than. Eliminate E.

Between C & D, Usage debated in is correct as we are only referring the time. So, Option D looks correct.
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before [#permalink] New post   27 Aug 2013, 10:34
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mikemcgarry wrote:
Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.
(A) are debated about in no less than
(B) are debated in no less than
(C) is debated about in no fewer than
(D) is debated in no fewer than
(E) is debated in no less than

For a complete discussion of substantive clauses (a.k.a nominal clauses, a.k.a noun clauses) ---including the very tricky issue of noun-clauses and subject-verb agreement --- as well as a full explanation of this particular question, see this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/substantiv ... -the-gmat/

Mike :-)


subject is singular + historical journals can be counted. In C about and in both are prepositions. That's incorrect, we want a noun phrase after a preposition. This eliminates C. D wins.
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before [#permalink] New post   27 Aug 2013, 22:05
Picked C over D. I knew "debate about" is the idiom. :(

With this I got a silly question - Do I say "I knew "debate about" was/is the idiom". Because the truth of the idiom still holds in present. :?: :?:
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before [#permalink] New post   27 Aug 2013, 22:54
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Chose C and it's wrong

eliminated A and B because of "are"
eliminated E because of "less"

had to choose between C and D, but did not know which one is right.
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac [#permalink] New post   28 Nov 2013, 09:53
aim730 wrote:
Subject Verb error :
is/are -- "is" is correct as the subject is Singular. This cancels option A and B
less/ fewer -- "fewer" is to be used in case of countable quantity. This cancels option E
We are now left with C and D.

Debated about could be unidiomatic or awkward construction. Hence the incorrect choice.
The choice D conveys the correct meaning.
Hence D is correct


I had the right answer by eliminating the less/ fewer option, but what is the subject of this sentence? Can't spot it.
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac [#permalink] New post   29 Nov 2013, 12:31
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sadovskiya wrote:
I had the right answer by eliminating the less/ fewer option, but what is the subject of this sentence? Can't spot it.

Dear sadovskiya,
I'm happy to respond. :-)

The subject is hard to spot because the main subject of the sentence is not an individual noun, but an entire clause. This is called a "substantive clause" --- sometimes also called a "noun clause" or a "relative nominal clause". This is a kind of clause that can act in the role of a noun and hence be the subject of the sentence.

See this blog for a full explanation:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/substantiv ... -the-gmat/

Mike :-)
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before [#permalink] New post   29 Nov 2013, 22:09
'Is' brings me down to C, D, and E. 'Fewer' brings me down to C and D. Never heard of 'debated about', so D it is!
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. [#permalink] New post   15 Sep 2014, 16:40
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Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. Grant were so singularly unsuccessful against Robert E Lee are debated about in no less than five hundred historically oriented journals.

are debated about in no less than
are debated in no less than
is debated about in no fewer than
is debated in no fewer than
is debated in no less than
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. [#permalink] New post   15 Sep 2014, 16:41
Noun Clause is The Subject here!
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Re: Why the various Generals of the Army of the Potomac before Ulysses S. [#permalink]
15 Sep 2014, 16:41
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