Heart disease, cancer and stroke is the leading cause of death in the

Question

Heart disease, cancer and  stroke is the leading cause of death  in the U.S.

A. stroke is the leading cause of death

B. strokes is the leading cause of death

C. stroke are the leading cause of mortality

D. stroke are the leading mortality causes

E. strokes is the leading causes of deaths

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hloonker · Answer

Sorry no clear between "causes of mortality" and "Mortality causes"

Anki111 · Answer

Anyone can explain this ? Very unlikely to face it in real exam but still, anyone?

wreckanda · Answer

Bunuel   KarishmaB , can you please help with an explanation here - it is not clear between "causes of mortality" and "Mortality causes"

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Heart disease, cancer and  stroke is the leading cause of death  in the U.S.

A. stroke is the leading cause of death

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The subject is plural ( Heart disease, cancer and stroke ) while the verb is singular ( is ).

What helps us identify the question as a Subject Verb Agreement question and identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:

A plural subject that is made up of singular nouns connected by and

Whenever you spot this Stop Sign in a Sentence Correction question, make sure that the verb is plural.

B. strokes is the leading cause of death

Incorrect.

This answer choice repeats the original mistake. The subject is plural ( Heart disease, cancer and strokes ) while the verb is singular ( is ).

C. stroke are the leading cause of mortality

Incorrect.

You identified the original mistake, which is a disagreement between the plural subject ( Heart disease, cancer and stroke ) and the singular verb ( is ). However, there is a logical flaw in this answer choice: more than one cause of death is mentioned, so cause should not be singular.

This answer choice is second best. In the GMAT, it won't help you - a wrong answer is a wrong answer. The lesson to be learned here is not to jump at the first answer choice that corrects the original mistake. After eliminating answer choices that repeat the original mistake, read the remaining answer choices (i.e., those that correct the original mistake) carefully and notice all the differences between them.

D. stroke are the leading mortality causes

This answer choice corrects the original Subject Verb Agreement mistake, by changing the singular verb  is  to the plural verb  are  to match the plural subject  Heart disease, cancer and stroke .

Note that the change of wording  causes of death -> mortality causes  does not entail a change of meaning.

E. strokes is the leading causes of deaths

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The subject is plural ( Heart disease, cancer and strokes ) while the verb is singular ( is ).

What helps us identify the question as a Subject Verb Agreement question and identify the mistake is the following Stop Sign:

A plural subject that is made up of singular nouns connected by and

Whenever you spot this Stop Sign in a Sentence Correction question, make sure that the verb is plural.

Heart disease, cancer and stroke is the leading cause of death in the

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Heart disease, cancer and stroke is the leading cause of death in the

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards