V05-07

If this is correct at all, it's not standard usage. First, the explanation draws a distinction between "a half dozen" and "half a dozen" that does not exist -- they're synonymous (see a dictionary here). Second, when we use a phrase like "a half dozen" or "a dozen" to refer to a number of things, it's plural most of the time; it is not English to say "I bought some eggs, and a half dozen is cracked". The verb needs to be "are", as in every example sentence that includes a verb in the dictionary I just linked to. The word doesn't become singular when you add "banded together" after it. There are circumstances where a word like "dozen" can be singular ("A dozen is a lot of eggs to buy") but I don't see how this sentence is one of them, and even if it might be acceptable to use a singular verb here, it's certainly more common to use a plural one. The GMAT wouldn't test the distinction here anyway, but answer D is the more typical way to write a sentence like this.




I'm also unsure why the sentence would say "a constituent can make a lawmaker change his opinion" when it could avoid the surely unintended suggestion that only male lawmakers are open to persuasion by saying "a constituent can change a lawmaker's opinion".

Thank you very much for the strong arguments above. Nonethelss I would like to ask your opinion on the following two lines of reasoning:

1. Grammar:
When I go the dictionary you reffered to in your post, I see two types of examples: "half-dozen" used as an independent noun and "half-dozen" used as an adjective of number to refer to another noun. When used as an independent noun, I see that it has indeed been used as a singular entity:

Since 1979, when he was still in his twenties, he has authored half a dozen books while editing another half-dozen.

Isn't "another" (meaning "one more in addition") an adjective referring to a singular entity?

Moroever the very definition of the word given in the dictionary ("set of six things or a group of six people") makes the word singular - isn't it? Why I feel that "half a dozen" is not the same as "a half-dozen" is that the first one refers to a number, 6, and hence an adjective and the second one refers to a group and hence a collective noun (and hence the article "a" to signify that the noun is a singular noun). I do see that "half-dozen" has been used as an adjective of number in many examples in the dictionary you referred to, but in such cases the noun it refers to is plural and hence uses a plural verb - haven't we frequently observed that many commonly used practices are logically incorrect?

2. Meaning:
What do you think of the following nuance?

Let us say that there are six people who individually can shout, but unless they shout together no alarm is caused. In other words, each individual by himself is capable of shouting but incapable of causing alarm. Now I would represent these facts by the following three sentences:

a. A half-dozen people shout. (For argument's sake, I assume that "half-dozen" can be used as adjective of number.)
b. A half-dozen people cause alarm. (For argument's sake, I assume that "half-dozen" can be used as adjective of number.)
c. A half-dozen (shouting together) causes alarm.

The first sentence is clear - it does not raise any scope for confusion: 6 people shout.

The second sentence using the plural verb "cause", in my view, may be distorting the meaning, because it might indicate that each of the six people can cause alarm. In other words, this sentence does not make it clear that all the six people are required together as a group to cause alarm.

On the other hand, the third sentence using the singular verb "causes" is pretty clear in my view - it clearly conveys that a group of six people (shouting together) can cause alarm - hence the singular verb "causes" has been used to refer to a group.

I look forward to your valuable inputs on my above thoughts.

The term 'half dozen' functions like the word 'six'. There are occasions where it's always singular -- when a sentence is referring to the number itself, and not the things that are numbered, it's singular. "Six guests is too many to invite", for example, is correct, as is "A half-dozen eggs is too many for an omelette," because it's the number itself, not the guests or the eggs, that is the subject of the verb. Then there are situations where the verb can be singular or plural, depending whether the group is indivisible or whether the group members are distinguishable. That's why I left open the possibility that the OA here might be technically acceptable, even if it's not the more common usage. But when the individual group members are the real subject, most of the time "six" or "a half dozen" would take a plural verb: "A half dozen constituents are marching today in support of Ukraine", for example, is correct. Even if you add "banded together" to that sentence, the constituents are still the plural subject, or at least that's a completely reasonable way to read the sentence. If you added a singular noun ("A group of a half dozen" say) then the subject becomes more obviously singular, but with only a modifier "banded together", we're still talking about six different people, which we'd normally take to be a plural. So there's no basis on which to reject answer D, the more typical way to phrase a sentence like this, and while perhaps A is also acceptable, it's not a fair 'split' to include in an SC question, because either the OA is wrong, or it just becomes a guessing game when you pick the answer.

Ah, a lively debate between Experts. I cannot help myself here, not that I am aiming to tilt the balance. (I clearly respect both of you.)


I agree that there is no reasonable, GMAT™-rooted basis on which to reject answer choice (D). It is not a matter of preference, but of correctness. The sentence could logically be interpreted in two ways:

1) the circumstance under which so many constituents band together causes alarm—answer choice (A) is justifiable.

2) the constituents themselves, by banding together, cause alarm—answer choice (D) is justifiable.


We cannot point to any part of the non-underlined portion to discredit either interpretation, so, in my view, the question is flawed and should be revised. I like the idea, just not the execution: "guessing game" scenarios should not pop up if the question is written sufficiently well. I keep a spreadsheet of every official question that has been released, and out of those 1668 SC questions, I can point to zero in which the answer comes down to this same type of split with no other way to separate the two contenders. I would be happy to reexamine one or more questions if anyone feels otherwise.

- Andrew

IanStewart AndrewN
Many thanks to both of you for your valuable inputs in this constructuve discussion! We are in the process of revising the question in order to make it more solidly reasoned.

Great discussion above!


The question or/and solution has been revised and edited. Thank you IanStewart, AndrewN, sayantanc2k !!!

Thank you, sayantanc2k and Bunuel, for lending an ear to constructive criticism. The new question looks much better. I know how challenging it can be to write GMAT™-like questions, something I dabble in from time to time (even if many of my creations are more like exercises in reasoning and might not appear as written on the exam).

Keep up the fine work.

- Andrew

Got it right using below approach but not sure

The idea behind the Personal Long Letter campaign is that a XXX , whereas a
So underling portion starting with a half-dozen is fine. Choices A and E use this construction.

In choice E , when collected together, is important and cannot be placed within 2 commas.
So answer choice A. should be right.

I think this is a high-quality question and I agree with explanation. The tag for this ques should be SV Agreement instead of Verb Tense/Form