According to a recent study, financial problems, together with their

Hi somesh86,

Suppose Marital Stress has following causes:

1. Financial Problems
2. Work-Place Problems
3. Health Problems

Could you not say "Financial Problems" as rank one of the above causes?

Hope this clears the doubt.

@HKD1710

Yes you are correct. I think my doubt is resolved. I was thinking that 'One of the' always makes things singular but my understanding was flawed. 'One of the' leads to a singular verb actually.


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This works grammatically, but logically, the whole thing is a no-go. The sentence is saying that together, both financial problems and their ramifications rank as a cause of marital problems. So it's saying that financial problems and the things that they cause combine to cause a third thing. In that case, why don't we just say that financial problems are the cause, and leave "ramifications" out of it?

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Correct Answer: B

There are two main problems with the original sentence.

(1) The subject of this sentence (financial problems) is plural and does not agree with the verb (ranks), which is singular. Do not be thrown off by the appositive between the subject and verb that is designed to confuse you.

(2) The phrase rank as one of the high causes is not idiomatically correct. Instead, items rank as one of the leading causes.

A. The subject (which is plural) and verb (which is singular) do not agree; ranks as one of the high causes is awkward and unidiomatic
B. This sentence correctly uses a plural verb with its plural subject; the concise and idiomatically correct phrase rank as one of the leading causes is used
C. The phrase rank as one of the most high causes is awkward, unidiomatic, and redundant (the words most and high convey the same idea)
D. The subject (which is plural) and verb (which is singular) do not agree
E. The phrase rank as one of the most leading causes is awkward, unidiomatic, and redundant (the words most and leading convey the same idea)

According to a recent study, financial problems, together with their serious ramifications, ranks as one of the high causes of marital stress in America.

Financial problems is the subject and is plural.

(A) ranks as one of the high causes of marital stress in Americaplural subject needs plural verb
(B) rank as one of the leading causes of marital stress in AmericaCorrect
(C) rank as one of the most high causes of marital stress in Americamost high causes-doesnt make sense.
(D) ranks as one of the leading causes of marital stress in Americaplural subject needs plural verb
(E) rank as one of the most leading causes of marital strife in Americamost leading? redundant