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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 20 Dec 2016, 20:47
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himanshukamra2711
acc to me

quesn stem says alfalfa and as much as 20% of the leaf and small stem material of the same crop ie alfalfa,hence it is not a compound subject and the singular subject becomes as much as 20% of the leaf and small stem material ----so singular shatters and falls
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Quantity words such as percentages, fractions etc. take up the number (singular / plural / uncountable) of the noun within the of prepositional phrase. For example:
Half of the pizza IS eaten. (countable - singular)
Half of the pizza slices ARE eaten.(countable - plural: one can count how many pizza slices are eaten)
Half of the milk IS eaten. (uncountable: one cannot count half of milk)

In "20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material" the noun (phrase) within the prepositional phrase is "leaf and small-stem material", 20 percent of which is uncountable. Hence a singular verb is required. (one cannot count 20 percent of leaf and small-stem material.)
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 04 Mar 2017, 08:34
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20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material is singular. Hence, D is correct (Shatters and Falls)
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 24 May 2017, 22:32
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shishirgmat2016
20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material is singular. Hence, D is correct (Shatters and Falls)
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Yes that seems to be right, but can yuu explain the logic behind this
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 25 May 2017, 09:54
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sriamlan
shishirgmat2016
20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material is singular. Hence, D is correct (Shatters and Falls)
Yes that seems to be right, but can yuu explain the logic behind this
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Dear sriamlan,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

As a general rough-and-ready rule
X% of [singular] is also singular
X% of [plural] is also plural

Twenty percent of the water is . . .
Twenty percent of the students are . . .

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 24 Nov 2018, 06:52
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.


(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell

(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall

(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall

(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls

(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen
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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
April 1975
Volume 232, Issue 4

The traditional procedure for harvesting a forage crop such as alfalfa usually entails making three trips through the field: one to cut the crop, one (sometimes bypassed) to rake it so that it will dry more thoroughly and one to pick it up. The procedure results in certain losses; for example, as much as 20 percent of the dried leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious part of the plant, can shatter and fall to the ground. The proteins and amino acids of forage crops are not fully utilized in another sense: since such crops can be digested only by ruminants, the nutrients in them are not directly available to other animals, including man. In an effort to exploit the full potential of forage crops an interdisciplinary group at the University of Wisconsin has developed a program for extracting proteins and amino acids from such plants in the form of juice, producing a concentrate that is suitable for a wide range of animals and leaving a solid residue that is still nutritious for ruminants.
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 16 Aug 2019, 01:37
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Hi folks,

I have a problem with the OA here:

Between B and D,
(b) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
B uses plural verbs shatter and fall, correctly referring, in my opinion, to the two most nutritious parts of the plant.

(d) the most nutritious parts of the plant shatters and falls.
D on the other hands seems to refer only to the closest noun, here stem material.

Can someone please explain this to me?

generis @veitaskarishma chetan2u GMATNinja

Thank you
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 17 Aug 2019, 10:53
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Considering material is singular in D, what does the " the most nutritious parts of the plant shatters and falls" phrase indicate? Shouldnt it use part instead of parts?
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 17 Aug 2019, 11:27
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darshak1
Considering material is singular in D, what does the " the most nutritious parts of the plant shatters and falls" phrase indicate? Shouldnt it use part instead of parts?
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Yes, not the most easy construct to understand, but the point is that material is not a part of the plant.

Parts of the plant referred to, in this sentence, are leaf and small-stem.
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 01 Sep 2019, 18:21
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Sourav700
Hi folks,

I have a problem with the OA here:

Between B and D,
(b) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall
B uses plural verbs shatter and fall, correctly referring, in my opinion, to the two most nutritious parts of the plant.

(d) the most nutritious parts of the plant shatters and falls.
D on the other hands seems to refer only to the closest noun, here stem material.

Can someone please explain this to me?

generis @veitaskarishma chetan2u GMATNinja

Thank you
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Let's take another look at choice (B): "In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall to the ground."

The main verbs do not have to agree with the closest nouns. Instead, the main verbs have to agree with the subject of the sentence. In this case, as explained in this post, "20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material" is the subject and needs the singular verbs: "shatters and falls".

I hope that helps!
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 17 Nov 2020, 16:04
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfalfa, as much as 20 percent of the leaf and small-stem material, which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell to the ground.


(A) which is the most nutritious of all the parts of the plant, shattered and fell -- past tense is incorrect

(B) the most nutritious of all parts of the plant, shatter and fall -- should be singular

(C) the parts of the plant which were most nutritious, will shatter and fall -- 'were' is incorrect

(D) the most nutritious parts of the plant, shatters and falls -- Correct

(E) parts of the plant which are the most nutritious, have shattered and fallen -- It's shattered up until this point? Wrong.

Comparing B and D, 'the most nutritious parts of the plant' is better than 'the most nutritious of all parts of the plant'.

Answer is D.
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 31 May 2023, 02:03
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Isn't this ambiguous?
20 percent of leaf and stem material
meaning 1- 20 per of leaf and 20 percent of stem material ( 20 pecent of both od them)- in this case the phrase is singular
meaning 2- 20 percent of leaf and stem material- in this case, the phrase is plural
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 31 May 2023, 06:36
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One of the rules for identifying the correct subject is that with words that indicate portions-PERCENT, FRACTION, PART, MAJORITY, SOME, ALL, REMAINDER - look at the noun in the OF phrase (object of the preposition) to determine whether to use a 'singular' or 'plural' verb

In 20% of leaf and small stem material, material is the subject which is singular.

So, verb should also be singular i.e. shatters and falls.

D makes the most appropriate choice.

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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 29 Aug 2023, 01:18
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Isnt it -

As much as 20% of x
And
Small stem material

Which means there are two subjects and hence should have plural shatter and fall?

Why are we thinking its:

As much as 20% of x
And
Of small stem material?

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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 01 Sep 2023, 07:15
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One thing I don't get is why isn't it a point of concern in option D that the modifier "the most nutritious parts of the plant" is straight up wrong if "20 percent of leaf and small-stem material" is singular? Surely you can't have a plural modifier for a singular subject?
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 11 Sep 2023, 06:48
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Ritik25
One thing I don't get is why isn't it a point of concern in option D that the modifier "the most nutritious parts of the plant" is straight up wrong if "20 percent of leaf and small-stem material" is singular? Surely you can't have a plural modifier for a singular subject?
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The following post (including the linked post by @‌mikemcgarry) should help answer your question: https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-the-most- ... l#p2349442. If not, just let us know, and we'll do our best to help!
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In the most common procedure for harvesting forage crops such as alfal 28 Sep 2023, 09:01
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Percent of something countable (plural)
percent of cars/bikes/people

percent of uncountable (singular)
percent of traffic/material/water
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