Noshad wrote:
Either the Pirates or the Orioles are the winners; we’ll have to check the score to be sure.
A. Either the Pirates or the Orioles are the winners;
B. Either the Pirates or the Orioles will be the winners;
Future tense is incorrect.
Although the sentence could refer to the future if a person did not know which teams were playing, the more reasonable meaning is that the teams have already played the game.
C. Either [the] Pirates or [the] Orioles are winners;
The definite article "the" is required.
D. Either the Pirates or the Orioles is the winner;
Team names are plural. The verb should be ARE and the subject complement should be "the winners," as in option A.
E. Either the Pirates or the Orioles is the winners;
Singular verb is wrong, just as in D. In addition, "winners" correctly matches the named teams but does not agree with the [incorrect] verb IS
Noshad , please, specify the source.
Just below option E, please write
Source: ____________
It is really hard for admins and mods to cope with questions that have no source.
Mahmoudfawzy83 ,
jrk23 ,
georgethomps ,
arorni , and
MauriciopettinatoAlthough I highly doubt that GMAC will ever test this issue, concern about the issue is understandable.
It is hard to know how much time to spend on an issue.
On this one? Not much.
The issue is obscure.
• Sports teams' names are plural in North American English, but the nouns "a team" or "the team" are singular.
• If referred to by the team's proper
name, the noun is plural.
The three sentences below come from articles in
The New York Times.
--
Correct:
The Yankees have not been [to the World Series] in a decade ...*
--
Correct: Granted, the
Red Sox have barely resembled the 2018 version of themselves, losing 10 of
their first 16 games.**
• The word "team" is singular
--
Correct: The
team has [singular] been undermined by
its pitching staff’s 5.80 E.R.A.
— 13th in the American League even after David Price shone in a 4-0 win over Baltimore on Sunday.**
• Another source: Mike McGarry (who may be the New York Mets' biggest fan
)
mikemcgarry writes:
Quote:
[S]ome collective nouns, especially sports teams names (e.g. “the New York Mets!!!”) are expressed as plurals, . . .
My emphasis. That quote comes from the post titled
Subject-Verb Agreement on GMAT Sentence Correction, found HERE• I found no official questions that test the issue -- I scanned all the questions from
OG 13 to
OG 2019 and from
OG VR 2017, 2019, and 2019
to see whether a question tested the issue. No question did so.
-- Older official questions are part of a sentence correction initiative for forum members called
Project SC Butler, HERE—
and no question tests the issue.
**
Process of elimination• Split #1: Sports teams' names are pluralOptions D and E incorrectly use the singular verb IS.
Eliminate D and E
• Split #2: proper names for sports teams are preceded by THEOption (C) erroneously omits the definite article.
Eliminate C
• Split #3: Future tense is either not correct or not as appropriate as present tenseOption B's use of future tense is incorrect or not as accurate as the tense used in (A).
Four of five options indicate that one of the teams has ALREADY won.
I could argue that in a very specific circumstance, about which you do not need to worry,
(B) could be correct.
Even so, (A)'s present tense phrase "are the winners" fits better.
The correct answer is A.Hope that helps, all.
*Kepner, Tyler. "For the Yankees, Even the ‘Next Guy Up’ Is Plenty Dangerous." The New York Times 18 April 2019. Accessed April 18, 2019 (as subscriber). HERE.
** Klapisch,, Bob. "James Paxton of Yankees, Already Struggling, Will Face Crucial Test in Red Sox." The New York Times 14 April 2019. Accessed April 14, 2019 (as subscriber). HERE.
This full paragraph from the Klapisch article illustrates the standard way to talk about named sports teams:
"Granted, the Red Sox have barely resembled the 2018 version of themselves, losing 10 of their first 16 games. The team has been undermined by its pitching staff’s 5.80 E.R.A. — 13th in the American League even after David Price shone in a 4-0 win over Baltimore on Sunday. The Yankees have not fared much better. Their 5-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday was their fifth in six games. Except for a three-game wipeout of Baltimore last weekend, the Yankees have dropped every series this season."