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gmat2me2
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People V/S Population 12 Mar 2005, 08:32
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I thought this difference would be good for everyone of us around....

Heres the question

A high percentage of the population _________ voting for the new school.

Choices are

is
are

A high percentage of the people _________ voting for the new school.

Choices are

was
were

Please do explain why you think your answer is right......



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ywilfred
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People V/S Population 12 Mar 2005, 08:42
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A high percentage of the population _________ voting for the new school.
Ans: is

Percentage is singular. The part of the sentence, 'of the population' is known as a middleman, something inserted to confuse you to commit subject-verb agreement errors. You can take this part of the sentence away and it now looks like:
A high percentage _____ voting for the new school. So is this 'is' or 'are' now ?? You can even trust your ear in this situation. :-D

A high percentage of the people _________ voting for the new school.
Ans: was. Same reasoning.
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jpv
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People V/S Population 12 Mar 2005, 17:35
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I will also choose is/was.. Reasoning same as ywilfed.
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nocilis
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People V/S Population 12 Mar 2005, 20:00
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X of Y
X: %, percent, number, fraction etc.
Y: subject

is a case where the combined subject is singular or plural, based on whether Y is singular or plural.

So,

A high percentage of the population _____is____ voting for the new school.

A high percentage of the people ____were_____ voting for the new school.

are the correct answers as population is a singular and people is a plural subject.

Some more examples:
10% of the students are not in the class (plural)
One third of the cake has been eaten (singular)

One more note:
The following words can result in either a singular or plural subject based on the subject it acts on

1) Some of :
Example:
Some of the cookies are missing - OK
Some of the cake is missing - OK

2)Any of

3)Most of

4)All of

Hope this helps.
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gmat2me2
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People V/S Population 13 Mar 2005, 06:39
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bang on target nocilis.......

thanks
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Paul
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People V/S Population 13 Mar 2005, 15:20
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gr8 explanation nocilis! :good



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