Depending on which scholar you consult, either Daniel Defoe’s Robinson

A. Presence of 'OR' means the sentence is singular. This rules out C,D and E. B has being which is wrong. So A.

Hi,
Depending on which scholar you consult, either Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews, or Samuel Richardson’s Pamela is believed to have been the first English novel ever written.

(A) is believed to have been the first English novel ever written.
(B) is believed as being the first English novel ever written.
(C) are the English novels believed to be the first written.
(D) are the English novels which were believed as the first written.
(E) are the first English novels ever believed to be written.

@navi19: Plural verb can be used with the idiom “either… or…” depending on the context of the sentence. Consider the following examples:
1. Either the teacher or the students are responsible for this indiscipline.
2. Either the students or the teacher is responsible for this indiscipline.
So, the noun that appears after “or” decides the number of the verb. If the noun preceding “or” is singular, then the verb should be singular and vice-versa.
In the sentence in question, the correct verb to be used is certainly “is” because “Samuel Richardson’s Pamela” is a singular noun.
Between A and B, A is correct because it used the correct idiom “believed to have been written”. The correct idiom is “believed” to be something.
Hope this helps.
Shraddha.

Official answer:

This sentence has a clear 2/3 split between is and are in the answer choices. When the questions have such a clear split, it is in your best interest to look into that error type first. In this case it is a subject/verb error because the split is between is, a singular verb, and "are", a plural verb so you have to check the subject. This sentence has a combined subject connected with an "or" so the last item in the list controls single/plural. Because the book Pamela is singular, you need a singular verb and C, D and E are eliminated.

The next issue is which preposition goes most appropriatedly wiht the verb Believed. it is idiomatic to say you believe something "To", not "as" thus A is the correct answer.

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I have a question about the number of items in the list. How can this list have 3 items and be separated by either ... or .... ? When using "either, or", shouldn't we have only 2 items?

No, it is not necessary that if we deal with "either...or", we need to have only two items. International magazines such as "Economist", "The scientific american" etc deal with such sentences regularly.

Hope that helps.

There is a similar question in the Kaplan Books, that I don't understand:

Depending on which scholar you consult, Christopher Columbus, Leif Ericson, or the Chinese eunuch Zheng Ho is credited with being the first explorer from the Eurasian continent to have traveled to the New World by ship.

A) is credited with being the first explorer from the Eurasian continent to have traveled to the New World by ship
B) is credited to be the first explorer from the Eurasian continent to have traveled to the New World by ship
C) is credited to have been the first explorer from the Eurasian continent to have traveled to the New World by ship
D) are credited with being the first explorers from the Eurasian continent to have traveled to the New World by ship
E) are credited to be the first explorers from the Eurasian continent to have traveled to the New World by ship

I understand is credited is correct, so D and E are out. O/A states that that correct idiom is credited with (A) but the sentence still sounds wrong because it is written, "credited with being". Can someone shed some insight?

Correct idiom is "credited with"

ex: your account iscredited with 200$.
Use of "being" is not always wrong.
Being can be used as a participle or a noun depending on context.

Subject is singular, so C, D, D are out.
B is wrong in bcz of wrong use of being.
IMHO correct answer is A.

Posted from my mobile device

I didn't understand this question. There's no mention of the word, "Either", does it still count as singular?