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09 Sep 2022, 04:56
Kudos
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Dinesh654
As long as you noticed this, it's a moot point to further contemplate whether "media" is used as a singular or as plural entity here.
p.s. I did a Google search and apparently, "media" can be used both as singular and as plural entity.
09 Sep 2022, 13:59
Kudos
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The singular/plural split involving "media" in this problem is well crafted—it follows GMAC's conventions perfectly. To review those quickly:
• In the absence of any grammatical elements that prove otherwise, words that 'LOOK SINGULAR' (= that don't end with the 's' typical of English plurals) will be SINGULAR, and words that 'LOOK PLURAL' (= that DO end with this 's') will be PLURAL.
Both sides of this distinction will be observed scrupulously, for the sake of keeping the GMAT free of 'trick questions'.
—BUT—
• If there is grammar elsewhere that establishes the singular/plural status of any given noun, then... well, you have to notice that grammar, WHEREVER IT MAY APPEAR IN THE SENTENCE.
In these cases, it's OVERWHELMINGLY likely that the determinative element will be located in the NON-underlined part of the sentence.
Yup!
That's IT. End of story. This is a perfectly straightforward use of the plural pronoun "they"—which is not hidden away inside any sort of obscure construction—so, the thought process ends here.
Looks like that's not really a rule. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm not seeing any value in that 'rule', anyway. Its substance is already covered perfectly by the first bullet point at the top of this post: "Nouns that look singular are singular, unless there is grammatical proof to the contrary."
Literally every single one of these nouns is a "noun that looks singular", so, this rule is not only flawed, but also superfluous.
Flawed + superfluous = negative value-add.
In other words, this rule has potential downsides (it can go wrong!)... but NO upsides, over and above the (considerably simpler and more intuitive) first bullet point at the top.
• In the absence of any grammatical elements that prove otherwise, words that 'LOOK SINGULAR' (= that don't end with the 's' typical of English plurals) will be SINGULAR, and words that 'LOOK PLURAL' (= that DO end with this 's') will be PLURAL.
Both sides of this distinction will be observed scrupulously, for the sake of keeping the GMAT free of 'trick questions'.
—BUT—
• If there is grammar elsewhere that establishes the singular/plural status of any given noun, then... well, you have to notice that grammar, WHEREVER IT MAY APPEAR IN THE SENTENCE.
In these cases, it's OVERWHELMINGLY likely that the determinative element will be located in the NON-underlined part of the sentence.
Quote:
Yup!
That's IT. End of story. This is a perfectly straightforward use of the plural pronoun "they"—which is not hidden away inside any sort of obscure construction—so, the thought process ends here.
Quote:
Looks like that's not really a rule. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm not seeing any value in that 'rule', anyway. Its substance is already covered perfectly by the first bullet point at the top of this post: "Nouns that look singular are singular, unless there is grammatical proof to the contrary."
Literally every single one of these nouns is a "noun that looks singular", so, this rule is not only flawed, but also superfluous.
Flawed + superfluous = negative value-add.
In other words, this rule has potential downsides (it can go wrong!)... but NO upsides, over and above the (considerably simpler and more intuitive) first bullet point at the top.
09 Sep 2022, 14:07
Kudos
Bookmarks
Dinesh654
Well, actually, "media" isn't a collective noun—or, more accurately, it has historically been considered incorrect to treat "media" as singular.
"Media" is actually just the plural form of "medium" (= a particular format in which audiovisual content is transmitted; for instance, FM radio is a medium).
The plural form isn't "mediums" because it's still faithful to the original Latin—much like "maxima" and "minima" (the plurals of, respectively, "maximum" and "minimum"), which you've certainly seen if you've taken introductory calculus.
This issue is currently in flux. More and more users are using "media" as a singular noun; eventually, once that critical mass of 'wrong' users is an overwhelming majority, that will become an 'alternative correct form'.
While we're all here, precisely the same situation obtains at this moment for "data".
"Data", like "media", is a Latin plural. The singular is "datum", which is the proper formal word for what many people call a "data point".
Careful formal writers still won't use singular "data", but—just as is the case for "media"—more and more English users are gradually, through crowd action, legitimizing singular "data".
The other thing you need to know is that there are departures from the 'looks singular'/'looks plural' rule in BOTH directions. You could potentially see plural-looking subjects that are actually singular, or singular-looking subjects that are actually plural (or even both!)—as long as there's grammatical proof somewhere in the sentence.
As an example going the other way, check out this official problem, which features a plural-looking subject that turns out to be singular.
In that problem, please make sure you can spot the grammatical proof that this subject departs from the usual rule-of-thumb.
