DJ101 wrote:
Hello All,
I am a bit confused here...I chose option 3 thinking one is singular and therefore keeps is correct but the solution says since factors is plural it should be keep..is there any way to decide between options like these
A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the
housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.
1.keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did
2.keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did ---> correct choice
3.keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
4.keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like
5.keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did
Hello,
DJ101. This question is discussed in a separate thread,
here, and there are a few pages of dialogue on it, so I hope you can find a post that resonates with you there. I will say, to be brief, that proper agreement of these prepositional phrases is dictated by the article, a/the, that precedes the subject of the sentence. In this case, the subject is
a higher interest rate, not
the higher interest rate, so a plural verb agreement, one that agrees with the object of the preposition,
factors, is appropriate:
A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keep...As for
like versus
as, I will leave that discussion to the thread whose link I provided above. I hope it helps.
Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
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