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siddheart22
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 29 Aug 2012, 09:15
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This question takes the form - One of the X who/that Y

Rule 1:One of the 'Noun' (will always be plural) + who/that + PLURAL verb
Example:This is one of the cars that BELONG/BELONGS to him.

the plural verb - BELONG is correct.
Rule 2:One of the 'Noun' (will always be plural) + SINGULAR Verb (usually 'is')

Example:One of the chairs IS/ARE broken.
the singular verb - IS is correct.

Therefore, in the question on hand:
A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

A higher interest rate is only ONE OF THE factors,.....,THAT (PLURAL VERB) KEEP ...., AS (because LIKE is ONLY to compare nouns).....

Hence, B is the correct answer.

Hope this helps.
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 08 Jul 2013, 08:36
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This is explanation from Aristotle SC Grail for questions having 'one of the X' structure.

One of the ‘Noun’ (will always be plural) + that/who + Plural Verb
One of the ‘Noun’ (will always be plural)+Singular Verb (usually ‘is’)

therefore imo b is correct
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 10 Aug 2013, 07:18
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ajit257
This is explanation from Aristotle SC Grail for questions having 'one of the X' structure.

One of the ‘Noun’ (will always be plural) + that/who + Plural Verb
One of the ‘Noun’ (will always be plural)+Singular Verb (usually ‘is’)

therefore imo b is correct
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Examples:
    He is one of the students who study here

    Any of the members who disagree may leave the committee

    One of the chairs is broken
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 10 Aug 2013, 08:47
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+1 for C.
My doubt is that if "one of the factors" is considered plural how do we get "it" in the final clause which says "like it did earlier in the decade)..

Can someone explain this?
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 21 Oct 2014, 19:00
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

keep vs keeps - factors is plural hence "keep"
like vs as - like is used to compare only nouns and not phrase containing verbs . hence "as"
"it" is a pronoun that refers to Housing Market
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 22 Oct 2014, 16:57
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dhanyamv88 has it covered. Nice work!
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 26 Oct 2014, 23:58
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DmitryFarber
dhanyamv88 has it covered. Nice work!
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i selected b because "one of the" was used hence singular.
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 27 Oct 2014, 00:34
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B uses "keep," which is plural. This matches the subject "factors." A higher interest rate is one of the factors. Which factors? The factors that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control.
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 28 Oct 2014, 00:00
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dhanyamv88
A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

keep vs keeps - factors is plural hence "keep"
like vs as - like is used to compare only nouns and not phrase containing verbs . hence "as"
"it" is a pronoun that refers to Housing Market
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isn't "It" in the answer ambiguous ?
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 28 Oct 2014, 00:08
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It's fine to use "it" when there is more than one singular noun, as long as it's clear which one should be the antecedent. Here, "as it did" is following directly after a reference to the housing market spiraling out of control, so the intended meaning is clear.
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 15 Aug 2015, 08:42
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

(A) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.
(B) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
(C) that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade
(D) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like earlier in the decade
(E) that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade

Lets simply follow the grammar rules.
1/ one of Xs that KEEP
one of Xs KEEPS
So, A and C are out.

2/ "LIKE" must be followed by nouns, pron-s, and noun phrases.
''LIKE'' is never followed by a clause or a prepositional phrase.
So, D and E are out.

Instead, Use "AS + clause" -- B is the right answer.

Hope it helps
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 03 Sep 2015, 07:41
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I think the answer should be B.
What keeps the market from spiralling out is the A high Interest Rate
So it should be keeps....

Tell me where I am wrong ....
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 01 Oct 2016, 09:24
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suramya26
I think the answer should be B.
What keeps the market from spiralling out is the A high Interest Rate
So it should be keeps....

Tell me where I am wrong ....
Show more

The subject for the verb "keep" / "keeps" is "that", and "that" refers to the noun "factors" - hence "that" is plural and so the verb should also be plural, i.e. "keep".
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 01 Oct 2016, 21:27
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sayantanc2k


The subject for the verb "keep" / "keeps" is "that", and "that" refers to the noun "factors" - hence "that" is plural and so the verb should also be plural, i.e. "keep".
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Hi,

I understand your explanation, based upon it I was trying to make few examples of my own to get better understanding of the concept - but ended up getting confused.
Can you please help me with below sentence ?

A volcano is only of the factors, albeit an important one, that destroys/destroy the biodiversity of the island.
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 02 Oct 2016, 11:15
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sidoknowia
sayantanc2k


The subject for the verb "keep" / "keeps" is "that", and "that" refers to the noun "factors" - hence "that" is plural and so the verb should also be plural, i.e. "keep".

Hi,

I understand your explanation, based upon it I was trying to make few examples of my own to get better understanding of the concept - but ended up getting confused.
Can you please help me with below sentence ?

A volcano is only of the factors, albeit an important one, that destroys/destroy the biodiversity of the island.
Show more

As before, "that" refers to "factors" and is hence plural - the verb should also be plural: "destroy" is correct.

In order to understand this structure, first identify the antecedent of the relative pronoun "that". In general identification is easy because "that" would generally come immediately after the noun it refers to (as per the modifier touch rule). However there are some exceptions (such as this one), in which the modifier is separated from the noun it refers to - this example is such an exception. Manhattan SC guide explains these exceptions in detail. This particular example falls under the following category:

A short non-essential phrase intervenes and is set off by commas. (Here: "albeit an important one".)
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 04 May 2017, 04:01
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Doesn't "that" refer to the nearest noun, In this case "one" in albeit an important one
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 04 May 2017, 05:24
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onkargm
Doesn't "that" refer to the nearest noun, In this case "one" in albeit an important one
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Try reading the sentence by removing the phrase " albeit an important one", you can find the actual meaning of the sentence. That must refer to the factors, hence we are using "keep".

As per the meaning of the sentence, Higher interest rate keeps the market from spiraling.

Tip: In such sentences, try to remove the phrases between the two commas and then check the overall structure. If it makes sense, it is correct. Else you are missing something.
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 16 Aug 2017, 23:23
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DmitryFarber
B uses "keep," which is plural. This matches the subject "factors." A higher interest rate is one of the factors. Which factors? The factors that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control.
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Hi DmitryFarber,

Well your post is pretty old but I hope you can still clear my doubt. In the sentence "factors" comes in a prepositional phrase "of the factors", then how can it be the subject of the sentence?

Thanks
Dkingdom
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 30 Aug 2017, 01:31
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Dkingdom

To be clear, "factors" isn't the main subject of the sentence. The main subject-verb pair is "rate is," for a simple core of "A rate is one of the factors." However, the phrase beginning with "that keep" is modifying the noun "factors." When we ask "What keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control?" the answer is "factors."
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A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important 28 Sep 2017, 00:43
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I thought the higher interest rate is the subject here. Can someone explain why 'higher interest rate' is not considered as subject ?
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