Declining prices for homes and businesses, the underlying

Question

Declining prices for homes and businesses,  the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued, is  going to force a number of financial instutions to declare bankruptcy in the coming years.

a. the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued, is
b. which are the underlying assets that banks issue is
c. the morgages that comprises the underlying assets that are issued by banks, is
d. which banks issue as assests to issue mortgages,are
e. the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued, are

As per my understanding the Gerund phrase "Declining prices" if Subject should be Singular, then why is the OA choice plural "are" and not "is"?

Example:  Delivering Pizzas  IS not a glamorous job, but it pays my bills.

Can anyone explain? What is the difference between the Sentence and the example above?

daagh · Answer

Declining prices: Here the  declining  is a participle and an adjective. The real subject is the plural ‘ prices ’. If you want to use  declining  as a gerund, then you have to say  'declining of'  prices’.
The use of ‘ are ’ is correct

kuttingchai · Answer

now that is confusing, but if I have "Declining of Prices" that means "Prices" will be the antecedent then "Prices" will be Subject and verb "are" should be correct.

its still not clear, m i missing something, i think i have to go back and read grammer

daagh · Answer

Declining of prices: ‘ prices ’ is the object of the preposition  of , which we should ignore. Therefore,  ‘declining of’  will remain the singular subject, and hence the verb will be the singular  ‘is ’

immaculatesahai · Answer

The first clause acts like a modifier . Because it has the present participle "declining"), hence the successive clause should start with the word which is being modified. This leaves us with only A and E. Since "prices" is plural, E wins.

kostyan5 · Answer

I also chose E. How does "declining prices" modify assets?

liftoff · Answer

Declining is acting as an adjective here, so prices is the subject therefore it should go with a plural verb. Noted

jeprince112 · Answer

Needs to be ARE... prices - plural

d) which would be connected to businesses... while e) modifies the preceeding clause.

E!

vishu1414 · Answer

Can somebody help me to narrow down between D & E-

My take for D is - which should refer to compound Noun -in this case Homes and Business

I understand that there is nothing wrong with E ,but then same is for D as well .

Kindly let me know .

nanishora · Answer

Declining prices- here prices is the subject which is plural.
 Delivering pizzas- Here delivering is a verb that has been made into a gerund.
 In declining prices, the emphasis is still on prices although considerably lower prices, declining is more like an adjective here. So subject is plural.

sa2222 · Answer

The clause "the underlying assets" is modified by "prices for homes and businesses" - which are the underlying assets.

AkshdeepS · Answer

Here subject is "Declining prices" so we need the verb "are".

A, B, and C are out.

B and D are wrong for using "which" to modify "businesses"

E is correct.

a. the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued,  is

b.  which are  the underlying assets that banks issue is

c.  the  mortgages  that  comprises the underlying assets  that  are issued by banks,  is

d.  which banks  issue as assets to issue mortgages,are
 
 e. the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued, are

arbazfatmi1994 · Answer

Declining prices  for homes and businesses, the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued, is going to force a number of financial instutions to declare bankruptcy in the coming years.

Please not that -

Declining = adjective 
Prices = Noun (Hence, the subject here)

Prices is plural => So, we can eliminate A, B, C

a. the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued,  is 
b. which are the underlying assets that banks issue  is 
c. the morgages that comprises the underlying assets that are issued by banks,  is 
d.  which  banks issue as assests to issue mortgages,are

Here, "Which" is modifying businesses.

e. the underlying assets of the mortgages that banks issued, are

Declining prices for homes and businesses, the underlying

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Declining prices for homes and businesses, the underlying

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