City Planners in Detroit hope that the renewal project extending along

population is singular
people is plural

C it is.

City Planners.........hope that the renewal project.........will establish a population that lives and works downtown and also provide the office space........

if population is SINGULAR, how does provide fit here? Shouldn't we use provides??

Somebody plz explain...

City Planners in Detroit hope that
the renewal project extending along the eastern riverfront will:
1.establish
>>>>>>>>>>>>>a population that lives as well as works downtown
AND
2.also provide
>>>>>>>>>>>>>the office space needed to attract new businesses.

So, the big adjectival phrase "the renewal project extending along the eastern riverfront" will do two things:
1. establish a population that lives etc.(lives agrees with population)
2. provide the office space etc. (will provide--will is common to both these verbs "establish" AND "provide")

City Planners in Detroit hope that the renewal project extending along the eastern riverfront will establish a population that lives and works downtown and also provides the office space needed to attract new businesses.

Step wise elimination:
1. Renewal project(Singular)
Verb - establish(Singular), provide(Singular)
A,D and E are out
2. Population- singular
So, it requires singular verb - 'lives and works' rather than 'live and work'
B is out
Answer - C

A) that lives and works downtown and also provides
B) to live and work downtown and also provide
C) that lives as well as works downtown and also provide
D) which lives as well as works downtown and also provides
E) who live as well as work downtown and also provides[/quote]

Guys why is B wrong ????

I mean C definitely sounds better but why is B wrong ?? any grammatical reasons ??

Hi Shikhar,

We generally use to + verb to show the purpose of any action. For example:
• Joe started the campaign to spread awareness about the importance of literacy.
• My grandparents shifted to countryside to live in peace and tranquility.

Now with Choice B, the sentence reads:
• City Planners in Detroit hope that the renewal project extending along the eastern riverfront will establish a population to live and work downtown and also provide the office space needed to attract new businesses.

With to + verb here, the sentence now seems to suggest that the renewal project will establish a population “in order to live and work downtown”. This is absolutely illogical. The renewal project cannot live and work. Hence, Choice B is grammatically incorrect.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Shraddha

Hi, can anyone explain me when it is appropriate to use "that" vs "who"? I always get confuse between the two

"Who" is used specifically to refer to people. If we're using a collective noun--population, country, company, team, etc.--we don't use "who" because that entity is not itself a person, even though it consists of people.

Can somebody please explain why is A incorrect?

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This is the sentence option A leads to:

City Planners in Detroit hope that the renewal project extending along the eastern riverfront will establish a population that lives and works downtown and also provides the office space needed to attract new businesses.

They hope that the project will establish and provide. If we go with provides (singular), it will sound as if the population provides office space.

A population that lives and works downtown and also provides the office space.

DmitryFarber

As given In option D, "which" after "population" would be okay, if "lives" (and/as well as) "works" and "provide" would have been there ?
or "and"/ "as well as" matters here, too ?

Can someone tell me who is the subject of "Provides", it can't be population. The city renewal project looks like a viable subject, and is singular. Please clear the doubt.

This is the sentence option C leads to:

City Planners in Detroit hope that the renewal project extending along the eastern riverfront will (a) establish a population that lives as well as works downtown and also (b) provide the office space needed to attract new businesses.

The will is the reason that we don't see a provides there (the project will provide).

Isnt this ambiguous?
Comparing A and C,
provides - "the population provides the rental space" (I don't see why that's unlikely, maybe its planned such that the population (has bought/) will buy property there and will lend it out to businesses?)

Provide - the renewal plan establishes.. And provides..

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