Most victims of infectious mononucleosis recover after a few weeks of

Question

Most victims of infectious mononucleosis recover after a few weeks of listlessness,  but an unlucky few may suffer  for years.

(A) but an unlucky few may suffer
(B) and an unlucky few have suffered
(C) that an unlucky few might suffer
(D) that a few being unlucky may suffer
(E) but a few who, being unlucky, suffered

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

Most victims of infectious mononucleosis recover after a few weeks of listlessness, but an unlucky few may suffer for years.

(A) but an unlucky few may suffer 
Correct choice by POI(Process of elimination)
 (B) and an unlucky few have suffered 
have is incorrect ans inconsitent with teh half before the comma
 (C) that an unlucky few might suffer 
That is wrong and cannot be refered after comma ,also it does not make correct sense withe the meaning of the sentence.
 (D) that a few being unlucky may suffer 
That is wrong as mentioned in the above choice,being is also not favored in SC.
 (E) but a few who, being unlucky, suffered  
those who suffered were suffering by being unlucky? not correct also 'being' is not favored in SC.

rishab0507 · Answer

Can you explain what is the problem with B, Isn't have agree with Subject Victims (plural ). as long as there is no issue with usuage of AND. Can you please explain

AjiteshArun · Answer

The sentence is trying to communicate a fact. This is something that the simple present tense is great for.  Have suffered , however, is present perfect.  An unlucky few have suffered for years  is likely to be interpreted as "some people have suffered" (in the past or are still suffering). This is not the intended meaning.

Also, you're right about the  and . We need a  contrast  (which the correct option introduces with a  but ). That is, most people recover quickly,  but  some may suffer for years.

BansalT · Answer

In this is 'an unlucky few' correct I have doubt in that 'an' is singular and 'few' can be plural.
So this construction seemed wrong to me. Can you please explain this?

RonTargetTestPrep · Answer

Even if you thought there was an issue with singular "few", you still should have ignored it. All five answer choices contain either "a few" or "an unlucky few", so, the word "few" is singular in every choice.

"A few" works like lots of other counting words—e.g., "a dozen", "a hundred", "a million".

These words do take  a/an  so they're technically singular, but you'll very rarely ever have to use that fact for any reason (such as s-v agreement).
These words are used to count/enumerate things, so they typically appear attached to a plural noun—e.g., "a few NOUNs", "a hundred NOUNs", "a million NOUNs". These whole constructions are plural, as you'd expect from the fact that they're describing multiple NOUNs.

Most victims of infectious mononucleosis recover after a few weeks of

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Most victims of infectious mononucleosis recover after a few weeks of

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