A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important

Hi EducationAisle,

Thank you for your response.

I understood your point. If we consider factors, then following comparison emerges.
factors keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did earlier in the decade.


Is the above comparison logical? Here, comparison is between the action of keeping the housing market from spiraling out of control. Both the entity in if and then clause must be the same.

Am I making any error in understanding the comparison?

it refers to a higher interest rate.

It is mentioned only one of the factors and therefore, we should you "keeps" instead of "keep" and i guess "that" modifies interest rate. Please tell me where am I wrong ?

Hi Aarushi, the way to read this is:

....only one of the factors that keep...

So, there are many factors; a higher interest rate is only one of those factors.

On the other hand, the following sentence would justify keeps:

A higher interest rate is the only one among the various economic factors that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control.

Here it is very clear that there is only one factor that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control: a higher interest rate.

Hello All,

I am a bit confused here...I chose option 3 thinking one is singular and therefore keeps is correct but the solution says since factors is plural it should be keep..is there any way to decide between options like these

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.

1.keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did

2.keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did ---> correct choice

3.keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did

4.keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like

5.keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did

Hello, DJ101. This question is discussed in a separate thread, here, and there are a few pages of dialogue on it, so I hope you can find a post that resonates with you there. I will say, to be brief, that proper agreement of these prepositional phrases is dictated by the article, a/the, that precedes the subject of the sentence. In this case, the subject is a higher interest rate, not the higher interest rate, so a plural verb agreement, one that agrees with the object of the preposition, factors, is appropriate:

A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keep...

As for like versus as, I will leave that discussion to the thread whose link I provided above. I hope it helps.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Hi DJ101, the way to interpret such sentences is:

There are many factors that keep the housing market from spiraling out of control; a higher interest rate is one of those factors.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses "one of the" construct, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

Why isn't "E" the correct option ? Not sure, about the correct usage of "Like" and "As" though. When to use which one?
Also, if option E was : "keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did", would it still be incorrect?

Indeed, the usage of like is a big red flag in E.

Like can never be followed by a "clause"; basically the portion of the sentence using like cannot have a verb.

In E like is followed by a clause "it did" (did is a verb). This is a no-go.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses the topic of as vs like, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

I felt one of the key things to look out for was not to select something because it 'sounds' correct.
LIKE here is wrong, as it cannot compare phrases. It needs to be AS. So eliminate: A, D and E
that here is the relative pronoun for FACTORS and thus needs the plural verb ie KEEP
It is not about "is only one of". For context.. Something is only one of the Many that keep
Refrain from choosing C even though it 'sounds' better.