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18 Aug 2014, 07:37
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E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
15%
(low)
Question Stats:
69% (00:49) correct
31%
(00:54)
wrong
based on 485
sessions
History
Date
Time
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Not Attempted Yet
Neither the W± and Z particles, the massive gauge bosons of the Weak interaction, and like the gluon, do not act over distances larger than the scale of the atom.
(A) and like the gluon, do not act
(B) and like the gluon, act
(C) nor the gluon, does not act
(D) nor the gluon, act
(E) nor the gluon acts
(A) and like the gluon, do not act
(B) and like the gluon, act
(C) nor the gluon, does not act
(D) nor the gluon, act
(E) nor the gluon acts
18 Aug 2014, 13:23
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ronr34
Dear ronr34,
I'm the author of this question, so I am happy to help.
This question is discussed in detail at this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/subject-ve ... orrection/
First of all, the idiomatic pairing is not "neither ... and like" but "neither ... nor." Choices (A) & (B) are completely out.
Choice (C) involves a double negative --- nor the gluon, does not act. This is incorrect.
Then, it boils down to a SVA issue, between (D) & (E). When the subject of a sentence is of the form:
P or Q
or
Either P or Q
or
Neither P nor Q,
then the rules of SVA say that the verb should agree in number with the latter element, the element closer to the verb. Thus, in these examples, Q would determine whether the verb is singular or plural, regardless of what P is.
In this sentence, "the gluon" is singular, so we have to take the singular verb. OA = (E).
BTW, if you're curious about the science in this sentence --- gluons are the particles that make the Nuclear Binding Force happen. In an atom's nucleus, there are a bunch of neutrons and a bunch of positively charged protons all stuck together in a really really small space. How can we have all those mutually repellent positive charges stuck together in a really tiny place? Well, there must be some super-strong "glue" holding them together --- essentially, that's what "gluons" do.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
18 Aug 2014, 08:09
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ronr34
Seeing "neither" at the beginning makes me think that this is a "Neither...nor..." sentence type. "Neither...and..." is not correct sentence construction. Therefore, I eliminated A and B.
Answer choice C is wrong because neither/nor implies a negative. You don't need to have a "does not" to make it negative. Therefore, I eliminated C.
Now the question comes between using a plural verb (act) or singular (acts). I start by breaking out the sentence into its essential elements to see what verb fits the best:
The particles act. (plural noun with plural verb)
The gluon acts. (singular noun with singular verb)
Since the gluon (singular noun) is mentioned last, I went with the singular verb. This is probably the most confusing part since you have a mix of plural/singular nouns in the neither/nor statement.
Correct answer E.
) is singular so we should use "äcts" rather than "äct" 
