Not one of the potential investors is expected to make an offer to buy

In your example the relative pronoun "who" refers to "persons" - the subject of the verb "make" is "who", i.e. "persons" ( not "one"). Your sentence implies that there are many persons who make (plural) money - he is one of them.

Now consider the following statement:
One of the persons makes money. Here the subject of the verb "makes" is "one", not "persons". This sentence implies that there are many persons, but only one makes money.

The subject sentence is of the latter form. Hence your comparison is not correct.

I have a doubt regarding option C, why is that choice wrong? Can you please explain.

Here is the sentence using choice (C):

"Not one of the potential investors is expected to make an offer to buy First Interstate Bank until a merger agreement be signed by them with a provision for penalties if the deal were not to be concluded."

The pronoun "them" is ambiguous... who will sign the merger agreement? The bank itself is singular, so the only possible referent in this sentence is the potential investors, but it probably doesn't make sense for all potential investors to sign any sort of agreement. Is the agreement to be signed by executives of First Interstate Bank? Shareholders? Board members? If those people aren't explicitly mentioned in the sentence, "them" can't refer to any of them.

Also, the use of the subjunctive "be signed" is not necessary in this case. For example, you would say, "I will not eat my soup until the fly is removed", not "I will not eat my soup until the fly be removed."

You could, however, use the subjunctive to express a hope/request/demand. For example, "I demand that the fly be removed from my soup."

I hope this helps!

daagh Bishal123456789 AjiteshArun GMATNinjaTwo

How the sentence is correct since the then clause is missing if were, would why the would part is missing ?

- SV error

I agree A is the only possible answer here but how come "that" refers to "agreement" as "agreement is signed" this part has verb and that is jumping to agreement and referring to agreement.

Hi daagh,
Can you please explain when to use 'for verb+ing' and when to use 'to +verb', since both kinda are used to show intent or a reason for the action.

Can someone tell me where the marker for subjunctive mood is in the question? A little confused here. Thanks.

This question is based on Idiomatic Usage and Subject-Verb Agreement.

The options give us the choice between the singular verb ‘is’ and the plural verb ‘are’. Since the subject of the verb is “one”, the singular verb ‘is’ agrees with it.

Options D and E contain the verb ‘are’ that doesn’t agree with the subject “one”. So, Options D and E can be eliminated.

The options also give us a choice between the phrases “to make an offer to buy” and “to make an offer for buying”. The noun ‘offer’ should be followed by the infinitive ‘to buy’.

On the basis of this usage, Options B and D can be ruled out.

The options also give us a choice between the verb forms ‘was’ and ‘were’. The last part of the sentence conveys a hypothetical condition, so the appropriate verb form is the subjunctive form ‘were’. On the basis of this rule also, Options B and D can be ruled out.

Option C contains the inappropriate verb form “be signed”. So, Option C can also be eliminated.

Option A corrects the errors in all the other options. Therefore, A is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

@e-gmat GMATNinja CrackVerbalGMAT, Please experts can you please explain, because when i saw the egmat video lesson it mentions that one of the students, some of the teachers subjects are the students and teachers, hence they are plural, but in this case why it is singular?

I still cannot understand why "the deal were not included" is correct. (pluralism confusion)

I understand that in B the "they" doesn't have an antecedent/ refferant. but it seems to be the most correct out of the choice until. But between A and B how do we choose which is more correct??

Hi NikhilJose, the original sentence uses (what's called) a subjunctive usage that depicts hypothetical/wishful/unreal scenarios.

For example:

If I were a fairy, I would fly.


Yeah...no antecedent is pretty much always a no-go Nikhil. It really is a big deal and should pretty much always form the basis of a straight rejection.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses subjunctive usage, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

hello Sir,

Could you please explain about the use of singular or plural verb.

"Not one of X" or "not one of Xs (plural)" or "none of the X" "none of the Xs"...

Please let me know what should follow after these mentioned above.

thanku Sir

Hey Daagh, Thank You for your response.

Is there any way to know when the text is a poetic expression.

QQ:

How come "the deal" is plural? shouldn't it be "provision for penalties if the deal was"

Thanks!

Good question. This sentence is using (what's called) subjunctive, which is typically used to depict hypothetical situations.

Some examples:

If Michael were to become the President, he would focus on removing poverty.

If Peter were a magician, he would wave a magic wand.

p.s. Our book EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana discusses Subjunctive, its application and examples in significant detail. If you or someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

Rule out D and E because of SVA ERROR.
C HAS PRONOUN ISSUE.
B has idioM issue.
A it is!