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Good example. Although both conjugations are acceptable in different instances, "A majority is Russian" is the most correct version. Majority is a singular noun in this case, because being Russian is common to of all of them collectively.

Likewise, the correct answer should be "a majority of women work," not "a majority of women works."

https://www.grammar.com/Group-Nouns-majority-do-or-majority-does

In your "Russian" example, the answer is crystal-clear, but I will concede that on this actual GMAT question there is more wiggle room. You could argue that they are not all working together, since they don't all perform the same jobs.

In addition, on second glance, I did notice one extra aspect of Choice A that I do not like: the word "them." If we use the singular conjugation early in the sentence, then we must preserve the singular reference later in the sentence.

My corrected version: "In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, mostly in middle management and light industry."
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Hi,

Quote:
Would you say "a group of exchange students are coming to visit."? No, you would say "a group of exchange students is coming to visit, because "a group" is the subject, not "students." What's the difference between "a group" and "a proportion?"Essentially, nothing.

Group is a collective noun ...
In american english and therefore in GMAT, collective nouns are taken as singular and therefore have SINGULAR verb.. In british english, the VERB depends on usage.


And group is like TEAM, ARMY in its usage and not like PROPORTION..
Proportion comes in same category as 'Number' and hence has the same usage-
A number or a proportion.... plural verb..
The number or the proportion ..... singular verb.

REASON-
proportion preceded by 'the' makes it singular AS THE is literally talking of the ratio/fraction-
The proportion of women working from home IS higher than that of men.

Whereas 'A proportion' talks of the NOUN itself and not fraction..
A higher proportion of women VOTE in elections nowadays.



Quote:
I think we need to stop treating the GMAC question-writers as infallible gods, and realize that they are also human, and whether they will admit it or not, they make mistakes sometimes too.

Firstly GMAC is not wrong here..
But say they were wrong here, I would still ask students to follow them..
Remember- we are here for scoring well and not questioning GMAC's wisdom
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Sorry, but I just don't agree.

The word "ratio" or "proportion" does not take a plural verb.

The best examples I can give are the many Official GMAT quant questions that follow this rule precisely:

Notice how the question says "the ratio was" (singular verb) instead of "the ratio were" (plural verb).

"In a certain district, the ratio of the number of registered Republicans to the number of registered Democrats was 3/5. After 600 additional Republicans and 500 additional Democrats registered, the ratio was 4/5. After these registrations, there were how many more voters in the district registered as Democrats than as Republicans?"

https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-a-certain-district-the-ratio-of-the-number-of-registered-143983.html
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Sorry, but I just don't agree.

The word "ratio" or "proportion" does not take a plural verb.

The best example I can give are the many Official GMAT math questions that follow this rule precisely:

Notice how the question says "the ratio was" (singular verb) instead of "the ratio were" (plural verb).

In a certain district, the ratio of the number of registered Republicans to the number of registered Democrats was 3/5. After 600 additional Republicans and 500 additional Democrats registered, the ratio was 4/5. After these registrations, there were how many more voters in the district registered as Democrats than as Republicans?

https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-a-certain-district-the-ratio-of-the-number-of-registered-143983.html

Yes that is what my point is too...
"the proportion...." will act as ''the number...", so will be followed by a SINGULAR verb...
and that is exactly what examples you have given
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That's mostly correct, but I believe that we need to clarify the "a number" vs. "a number" distinction. On the GMAT, this is only true if it's put in the form: "A number of _____ are ...."

I still don't personally agree with this choice, but I agree it's clear that "a number of (plural)" and "a proportion of (plural)" and "a fraction/majority/minority of (plural)" is always conjugated using the plural verb form on the GMAT. And yes for the purposes of this forum, the GMAC is king.

Otherwise, "a number," like all other singular subjects, is conjugated in singular form. For example:

"A palindrome is a number that reads the same forward and backward. For example. 2442 and 111 are palindromes. If 5-digit palindromes are formed using one or more of the digits, 1, 2, 3, how many such palindromes are possible?

"A number reads" = "(It) reads" = correct.

a-palindrome-is-a-number-that-reads-the-same-forward-and-bac-161167.html
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That's mostly correct, but I believe that we need to clarify the "a number" vs. "a number" distinction. On the GMAT, this is only true if it's put in the form: "A number of _____ are ...."

I still don't personally agree with this choice, but I agree it's clear that "a number of (plural)" and "a proportion of (plural)" and "a fraction/majority/minority of (plural)" is always conjugated using the plural verb form on the GMAT. And yes for the purposes of this forum, the GMAC is king.

Otherwise, "a number," like all other singular subjects, is conjugated in singular form. For example:

"A palindrome is a number that reads the same forward and backward. For example. 2442 and 111 are palindromes. If 5-digit palindromes are formed using one or more of the digits, 1, 2, 3, how many such palindromes are possible?

"A number reads" = "(It) reads" = correct.

a-palindrome-is-a-number-that-reads-the-same-forward-and-bac-161167.html

that is the entire point here-
a number of ..... OR a proportion of .... takes a plural verb and it takes a plural verb because the usage demands it and also more importantly GMAC finds it correct
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Can sum1 pls explain in this question In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in middle management and light industry. should we not use like because hungary and eastern europe is being compared :?
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Can sum1 pls explain in this question In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in middle management and light industry. should we not use like because hungary and eastern europe is being compared :?

Like must be followed by noun, pronoun or a noun phrase BUT never by a clause or prepositional phrase

Moreover the comparison is between women in Hungary and women across eastern Europe... option d and e seem to compare Hungary and Europe
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if C is correct then what will be the verb in the sentence?
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if C is correct then what will be the verb in the sentence?

Hey anuppatle85 ,

I am happy to help. :-)

The Subject is : an overwhelming proportion of women

The verb is: work

I hope that helps!
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In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in middle management and light industry.


(A) as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in

(B) as with much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women works, many in

(C) as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of them in

(D) like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women works, and many are

(E) like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many are in

1. In general, when using 'as' for comparison, the 'as' needs to be followed by a clause.
But I also found(in my notes, though I forget this part) that 'as' may be followed by a prepositional phrase. Is there ellipsis at work in these situations?

2. Is there a way to determine whether 'like' or 'as' is preferred in a particular situation? (I know that 'Like' is used to compare nouns while 'AS' is used to compare actions)

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyTargetTestPrep , DmitryFarber , VeritasKarishma , generis , jennpt , other experts - please enlighten
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notahug
In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in middle management and light industry.


(A) as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of which are in

(B) as with much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women works, many in

(C) as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many of them in

(D) like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women works, and many are

(E) like much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming proportion of women work, many are in

1. In general, when using 'as' for comparison, the 'as' needs to be followed by a clause.
But I also found(in my notes, though I forget this part) that 'as' may be followed by a prepositional phrase. Is there ellipsis at work in these situations?

2. Is there a way to determine whether 'like' or 'as' is preferred in a particular situation? (I know that 'Like' is used to compare nouns while 'AS' is used to compare actions)

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyTargetTestPrep , DmitryFarber , VeritasKarishma , generis , jennpt , other experts - please enlighten

Use of like is limited. It is a preposition so it can connect nouns/pronouns only. Use of as, a conjunction, is much more versatile. It connects phrases/clauses. In some situations you can use either depending on how you structure the sentence.

e.g. Hungary, like much of Eastern Europe, has an overwhelming ...
or
In Hungary, as in much of Eastern Europe, an overwhelming ...

In Hungary, like in much of Eastern Europe... would be wrong. Both 'like' and 'in' are prepositions.

Here is a post on the usage of like vs as: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2016/0 ... e-vs-gmat/
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I am confused with option A with the usage of which. I understand that we cannot use which to refer human but here I looked at which referring to the proportion of women as : Many (women) of which (large proportion) are .... here usage of which makes sense to me and this is the reason I marked A as correct choice. Please help me understand the same.
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Many (women) of which (large proportion)
Hi Karishma, women of large proportion doesn't make sense; if anything, it should be the other way round: large proportion of women.
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The sentence begins with 'in Hungary'...so 'in much of Europe' will be the correct comparison with paralellism. So eliminate B, D and E.
Though the comparison in A is right, 'In Hungary....as in much of Europe'... 'Many of which' is incorrect as it refers to women....which is not the correct relative pronoun
C has the correct comparison with the correct pronoun ' many of them'
Hence C

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Can somebody explain the use of as vs like?
Hungary and Eastern Europe are nouns. So why aren't we using like?
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Can somebody explain the use of as vs like?
Hungary and Eastern Europe are nouns. So why aren't we using like?

Hi Vishesh

Let me try to address your query.

‘Like’ signifies similarity and is usually used before a noun. For example:

John, like Stewart, works in an aviation company.

The sentence implies that John is similar to Stewart in that they both work for aviation companies.

‘As', on the other hand, is used to state that two things are ‘the same’. It is usually used before a clause. For example:

She laughed at his antics, as did her parents.

The above sentence implies that she and her parents reacted in the same way (by laughing) to his antics. ‘As’, however, is also used to define roles/functions and can also be used for nouns. For example:

As your teacher, I must tell you about your weaknesses.

In the sentence given in the question, the implication is that Hungary is the same as much of Eastern Europe in the fact that an overwhelming proportion of women work. Hence the usage of 'as' is appropriate (kindly note - the sentence expresses Hungary's sameness with "much of Eastern Europe" and not merely "Eastern Europe").

Hope this clarifies.
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