As of 2007, the Linden municipality of Switzerland had a population of

My two cents :
Everytime you have a time marker : Something leading upto an event, you have to use Past perfect. Eg :

By 1945, he had been 90 years old.
By 2004, I had received my Masters degree.

By that logic, you can eliminate C, D, & E. Between A & B, the subject here is singular hence the verb should too. That eliminates A.

Sunil

Are we choosing option B over option A, because
1. 4 percent is not clearly parallel with population
2. use of was/were
3. both reasons 1 & 2

I think this sentence can be written in simple past as well.
Better reason to avoid CDE should be
C: Switzerland, which was 1,338 - Use of which will refer to Switzerland, not the population
D: less than four percent of them foreign nationals - them has no antecedent
E: Linden municipality of Switzerland's population of 1,338 was foreign nationals - construction is unclear; whose population? Switzerland's or LM's?

I was stuck between A and B. Can somebody explain why we choose B? Especially why the use of "were" is wrong in A? Bunuel GMATNinja

I thought "were" is right, because I thought that the 4% of the population means the members of this population...therefore I thought plural is necessary.


Thank you in advance.

If C would have been like "less than four percent of the population of the Linden municipality of Switzerland, which was 1,338, was foreign nationals". Then over here, "which" would refer to Switzerland or the population of the Linded municipality of Switzerland ?
I am under the impression that which would refer to Switzerland here as referring to the population seems far fetched. Please correct me here if am wrong ?
Also, does "which" always follows the touch rule in GMAT ?

DmitryFarber can you please explain why we use "was" over "were" ? I thought foreign nationals is plural, so it should be were.

Or is the subject something else? If the subject was the "population" it is singular but if it is "population of 1,338" isn't that plural?

I was between A and B:

(A) the Linden municipality of Switzerland had a population of 1,338, of which less than four percent were foreign nationals


(B) Switzerland's Linden municipality had a population of 1,338, of which less than four percent was made up of foreign nationals

As of 2007, the Linden municipality of Switzerland had a population of 1,338, of which less than four percent were foreign nationals.


(A) the Linden municipality of Switzerland had a population of 1,338, of which less than four percent were foreign nationals

(B) Switzerland's Linden municipality had a population of 1,338, of which less than four percent was made up of foreign nationals

(C) less than four percent of the population of the Linden municipality of Switzerland, which was 1,338, were foreign nationals

(D) the population of Switzerland's Linden municipality was 1,338, less than four percent of them foreign nationals

(E) less than four percent of the Linden municipality of Switzerland's population of 1,338 was foreign nationals



Unable to understand why B is the answer. Why is "were" wrong here?

egmat
why did we use 'less' ? population is countable.