OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT


THE OPTIONS

• as much as should be as many as
→ pieces of floating plastic are countable; to talk about countable nouns, we use as many as

• the verb is should be are in order to match the plural subject pieces of floating plastic

• makes up should be make up to agree with the plural subject pieces of floating plastic
ELIMINATE A

• just as is the case in option A, as much as should be as many as

• again as is the case in option A, the verb is should be are

• have made up should be make up
→ have made up (present perfect) is a weird choice, one that is inferior to the simple present tense, make up.
ELIMINATE B


• the verb indicate should be the verb indicates in order to match the subject series
→ series can be singular or plural; if series carries the singular sense of one set, it takes a singular verb.
If series conveys the plural sense of two or more sets, it takes a plural verb.
Singular: A series of lectures is scheduled.
Plural: Two series of lectures are scheduled: one for experts and one for laypeople.
See Usage Note, here.
Although there may be a few or many reports, from context, there is one series of reports about this disturbing problem of plastic in the ocean.

• as is the case in options A and B, the verb is should be are

• is making up should be make up.
→ We use simple present tense in a general statement such as this one.
ELIMINATE C


• I see no issues
→ series . . . indicates
→ pieces of plastic, which are
Which refers to 18,000 pieces.
→ pieces . . . make up
KEEP


• indicate should be indicates; the subject is series, singular

• as many OF is not idiomatic; as many AS is idiomatic
ELIMINATE E

The correct answer is D.

• • Very short POE • •

This question is difficult.
I suppose that you might try to insist that series is plural—but other errors lead to option D, in which case series must be singular.

• Split #1: pieces of plastic are countable
For countable nouns, we use as many as, never as much as
Eliminate A and B

• Split #2: to convey general facts, use simple present verb tense
Option C uses "is making up."
Eliminate C

• Split #3: as many OF is not idiomatic; as many AS is idiomatic
Eliminate E.

The answer is D.

COMMENTS

jhavyom , welcome to SC Butler.

Kudos go to those who got the correct answer and explained well.
If you use my "short POE" reasoning, above, the answer is D irrespective of whether "series" is singular or plural.
Others get smiley faces for taking on a hard question.
Be safe, everyone.

A series of troubling reports (N-Singular) **** 'Reports' is plural but 'a series of reports' is singular
released by some of the top environmental organizations (Modifier modifying Series of reports)
indicates (V- Singular)
that
as much as (as much as must be used for non countable nouns)
18,000 pieces of floating plastic (Countable noun)
, which is (Must be are as pieces are plural) resistant to natural biodegradation, (Non Essential Modifier)
makes (Must be make, we need a plural verb for pieces)
up every square kilometer of the ocean.

Only Answer option D is correct, rest all options has some or the other errors.

Errors are highlighted below:

A) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up

B) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, have made up

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up

D) indicates that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up

E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up


Key Learning: Always keep an eye on the subject of the sentence. The subject can be a compound subject such as 'A series of troubling reports'. "Knowing the subject precisely" helps us in eliminating options

A series of troubling reports released by some of the top environmental organizations indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up every square kilometer of the ocean.

Question Type: Subject Verb Agreement

A) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up
Wrong Since “pieces of floating plastic” is a numbered quantity, it is more appropriate to use many instead of much.

B) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, have made up
Wrong Same as above

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up
Wrong Corrects the first problem, but “is resistant” is used, which still points to series probably. Plural should be used as ideally it should refer to pieces. Also, indicate is used instead of indicates, which is not appropriate with “a series”.

D) indicates that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up
Correct Indicates points to a series, perfect. Many is used instead of much, correct. Which are is used instead of which is, correct.

E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up
Wrong Indicate is used, which points to troubling reports as the subject. In this case, series is the subject.


Thank you.

A series of troubling reports released by some of the top environmental organizations indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up every square kilometer of the ocean.

A) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up

B) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, have made up

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up

D) indicates that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up

E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up

1- S-V agreement reports indicate and not reports indicates.
2- Pieces are countable, many should be used instead of much.
Eliminate A,B & D

Between C & E, as pieces is plural, the verb should be are not is. Eliminate C.

Correct answer choice is E

series - can be both singular and plural.

If it refers a single set , then it is used as singular otherwise plural. Here the context is multiple reports - Hence, Plural
So, eliminate A,B,D.

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up - Which refers to 18,000 pieces of floating plastic - Plural

E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up - Looks clean and clear

Taken from merriam-webster website (full article here):

Series is often found in the construction “a series of,” as illustrated above, with a plural noun following of (“a series of doors”; “a series of right hooks”). Series remains singular in this construction, but just like with other group nouns (such as gang or family), any verb that comes after the phrase will sometimes be conjugated to agree with the plural noun that follows of, rather than series, due to notional agreement (meaning)

With that note, here 'A series of trouble reports' can be treated as plural - A B D are out.

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up
E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up

Instead of taking the flexible 'which' clause that can refer to both 18000 pieces and floating plastic. We can choose either make or is making for our decision. Here, '18000 pieces' is plural so 'make'. C is out.

E is the answer.]

key take aways
Subject is reports so verb has to be indicate
use 2/3 split eliminate a,b,d
among c & e
pieces is plural usage of is correct in option C is wrong
option E is correct

A series of troubling reports released by some of the top environmental organizations indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up every square kilometer of the ocean.

A) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up
1. A series is plural hence required indicate.
2. As much as is wrong -for countable
3. Makes up singular - wrong
B) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, have made up
1. A series is plural hence required indicate.
2. As much as is wrong -for countable
C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up
1. is making is wrong
D) indicates that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up
1. A series is plural hence required indicate.
E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up
All issues are resolved

A series of troubling reports released by some of the top environmental organizations

After reading the bold part again and again, I came to conclude that "a series of reports" is plural because reports are released by some organizations and organization is plural. Here some organizations are releasing reports, not a single report. Therefore, the series of reports is plural and, accordingly, requires plural verb indicate.
Besides, as many as 18000 piece of plastic is correct because of countable noun.

E is correct.

Basically playing around with subject verb agreement.
Round 1 of elimination. Reports...indicate.
Hence eliminate A/B/D

Round 2 (Option C vs Option E)
As many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic - both have used many (countable) - Check
pieces of floating plastic, which is - Wrong (pieces is NOT resistent)
pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant - Correct (In line with SV agreement)

Another fault in C - is making up. This is not the correct usage of tense.
IMO E.

A series of troubling reports released by some of the top environmental organizations indicates that

'Series indicates'
Subject and verb do not agree in number in options C and E.
Eliminate C and E

18,000 pieces of plastic are countable, therefore we will use 'many' instead of 'much'

A) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up
INCORRECT

B) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, have made up
INCORRECT

D) indicates that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up
CORRECT

A series of troubling reports released by some of the top environmental organizations indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up every square kilometer of the ocean.

#1 - 'many of' - not sure if correct use, sounds odd, without 'as' would suit

E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up

#2 - 'a series of reports' - can take plural or singular form, pieces definitely require a plural

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up

#3 - 'much' - 18,000 pieces is countable so need 'many'

A) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up

B) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, have made up

#2 - 'many' - correct and 'are resistant' as well, as it refers to the 18,000 pieces

D) indicates that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up

The winner is: D
_________________

It basically boils down to if you consider "a series of reports" as singular or plural.
I think it is singular, therefore I went with D. --> singular verb 'indicates' is used
The answer would be E if it is plural. --> plural verb 'indicate' is used
The other options have definite problems so we can easily eliminate A,B & C.

Eliminate A, B, D as series of reports is plural and indicates is singular

Eliminate C as 18K pieces of plastic is plural and we need are instead of is after which

IMO E

However, before posting my explanation here, I had a second thoughts on the usage of series as singular or plural. The below article might be useful in clearing the doubt regards to this

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-a ... o%20plural.

"A series of troubling reports" is plural (We are talking about multiple reports talking about something) and thus "Indicate" will have to be used. Which means ABD is out.

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up
E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up

In C "As many as" is correctly used and "is" is also correct because we are referring to a singular property of the floating plastic. I Don't like "Is making up"
In E "as many of" makes it wrong.

I will go with C.

A series of troubling reports: Plural of course
so the correct verb must be indicate, not indicates. So bye bye A, B,D.

between C and E:
is making up can't refer 18000 pieces.
So C is out.
E must be OA.

A series of troubling reports released by some of the top environmental organizations indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up every square kilometer of the ocean.

A) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, makes up Incorrect

as many as - required

B) indicates that as much as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, have made up Incorrect

as many as - required

C) indicate that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which is resistant to natural biodegradation, is making up Incorrect

A series - indicates required
SV error- which indicates pieces, are required
tense error - 'is making up' wrong

D) indicates that as many as 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up Correct

E) indicate that as many of 18,000 pieces of floating plastic, which are resistant to natural biodegradation, make up Incorrect

as many of - wrong
A series - indicates required

The official explanation is here.

Oops, somehow I completely overlooked the 'of' in E, which forces us to choose the singular form of 'A series' and D is the answer. beautiful question.

Anyway, one more learning - should not focus only on certain words

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