GMAT CLUB OLYMPICS: Decades of research conducted by leading psycholog

Explanation:

Meaning + Pronouns + Subject-verb Agreement + Redundancy/Awkwardness

Understanding the intended meaning is key to solving this question; the intended core meaning of this sentence is that of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject, many individual issues among them stem from social isolation.

A. Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb “stems” to refer to the plural noun “issues”. Further, Option A incorrectly uses the term “much” to refer to the countable noun “issues”; for a noun such as “issues”, the appropriate equivalent term is “many”.

B. Trap. This answer choice incorrectly uses the term “much” to refer to the countable noun “issues”; for a noun such as “issues”, the appropriate equivalent term is “many”.

C. This answer choice incorrectly uses the singular verb “stems” to refer to the plural noun “issues”. Further, Option C incorrectly uses the term “much” to refer to the countable noun “issues”; for a noun such as “issues”, the appropriate equivalent term is “many”. Additionally, Option C uses the needlessly wordy phrase “issues that are related to mental health”, rendering it awkward.

D. Correct. This answer choice correctly uses the plural verb “stem” to refer to the plural noun “issues”. Further, Option D correctly uses the term “many” to refer to the countable noun “issues”. Additionally, Option D is free of all awkwardness and redundancy.

E. This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase “issues that are related to mental health”, rendering it awkward.

D is the best answer choice.
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Main stem: much vs. many
Much is for non-countable, many is for countable. IMO the number of issues can be counted, and as such I think we can eliminate A, B, and C.

Between D and E, E seems to suggest there are two different findings from the research, separated by the and, which IMO obscures the meaning. As such, I will go with D as my answer.

"Issues" is a countable noun. Hence, we cannot use "much". Therefore options A, B, C can be removed.
Option E is wordy. Option D is correct in number and is concise. Hence D is the correct answer.

Decades of research conducted by leading psychological institutions have shown that much of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stems from social isolation.

much/many: many of the mental health issues is correct

A. much of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stems
many of the mental health issues is correct usage. Incorrect
B. much of the mental health issues that today’s population is subject to stem
many of the mental health issues is correct usage. Incorrect
C. much of the issues that are related to mental health and that today’s population is subject to stems
many of the mental health issues is correct usage. Incorrect
D. many of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stem
Correct
E. many of the issues that are related to mental health and today’s population is subject to stem
Change in meaning.
mental health issues to which today's population is subject to is the correct usage. Incorrect

IMO D

Decades of research conducted by leading psychological institutions have shown that much of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stems from social isolation.

A. much of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stems : Since "issues" is plural, "much" is incorrect. Many should be used. Eliminate A
B. much of the mental health issues that today’s population is subject to stem: Since "issues" is plural, "much" is incorrect. Many should be used. Eliminate B
C. much of the issues that are related to mental health and that today’s population is subject to stems: Since "issues" is plural, "much" is incorrect. Many should be used. Eliminate C
D. many of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stem: Correct as it avoid errors made in the other options
E. many of the issues that are related to mental health and today’s population is subject to stem : issues are not related to today's population. Illogical meaning. Eliminate E

Decades of research conducted by leading psychological institutions have shown that much of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stems from social isolation.

A. much of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stems
B. much of the mental health issues that today’s population is subject to stem
C. much of the issues that are related to mental health and that today’s population is subject to stems
D. many of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stem
E. many of the issues that are related to mental health and today’s population is subject to stem

IMO D

Dear IanStewart

Could you please help me with the OA? I think the second “to” is redundant.

OA: …have shown that many of the mental health issues to which today’s population is subject to stem from social isolation.

Given this redundancy, the only grammatically viable choice is E, isn’t it?

Thank you very much in advance!
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Yes, there are serious problems even with the OA here. It definitely uses "to" twice when it should only use it once. And in American English, the verb outside of the underlined portion here would usually be "has", not "have" (though in UK English I'd expect "have" to be more common). But while D has an error so serious it could never be the right answer to a real GMAT SC question, answer E is just as bad -- it's a kind of run-on soup of words that doesn't really mean anything. The biggest problem with E is the word "and"; if that word was instead "that", then E would be grammatically correct and would convey the meaning, but it would still be awful writing, so even then it wouldn't be a great answer. As the question is written, there is no acceptable answer among the choices.


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