Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the argument that emotions

Just searched and found that "Phenomenon" is singular and "Phenomena" is plural. I also had doubt about "that" referent in the question but then used number/count logic, a thing can have different (say, 1,2, 3...) Phenomena....so its plural.

Correct: "phenomenon" is singular and "phenomena" is plural. Similar to "criterion" and "criteria," as well as "medium" and "media."

"Something like a phenomenon..."

-L.L. Cool J.

hi guys, I have a silly question regarding this sentence

that emotions, including those deemed personal or private is a social phenomenon

emotions is a noun as per my understanding

and including is a verb-ing modifier but whenever V-ing modifier is modifying a noun it should not be separated by the comma


kindly correct me where i am wrong.

shubham2312 , your question is not at all silly!
In fact, it's a very good question.

"including" is an exception to the rules that govern what you call V-ing modifiers
V-ing modifiers are also called present participles, participial modifiers, verbING, and __ING modifiers

• "including" always modifies a noun or noun-type word or phrase
(I cannot think of a single exception)

• including in this context belongs to the "additive phrase" group.
Including is similar to the phrases as well as, in addition to, and along with

(1) Additive phrases modify nouns in that they add nouns to another noun.
-- In this sentence, including adds personal or private emotions to the general category emotions
-- Similar: Foods rich in the antioxidant lycopene, including tomatoes and apricots, have been studied extensively.

(2) Additive phrases are not part of the subject itself.
-- Because additive phrases are not part of the subject itself, they often make verbs sound odd.
-- Correct: Espen, along with Kristoffer, travels frequently from Norway to France.
[singular subject, singular verb, despite the presence of two people in the sentence]

(3) Additive phrases often are defined as prepositions
-- Do not worry about the part of speech. Just remember that
"including" is an odd and exceptional ____ING modifier.

The pattern in this sentence is typical.
". . . that emotions, including those deemed personal or private, are . . ."
plural noun + comma + INCLUDING + nouns/pronouns that belong to the same group as the plural noun

THIS post discusses additive phrases and uses "including" in one of the author's SC mock questions.

Hope that helps.

anuj

How can we conclude that intention of the pronoun 'that' is to only emotions? By referring to a broad spectrum word phenomena, it means that the pronoun antecedes not only the emotions but also many more such abstract feelings.

However, let me also point out one technical factor. There
Is a difference between modification and antecedence? 'That' is often a relative pronoun that can refer to a previous noun or at times a more logical proximate noun. Per se, a relative pronoun technically never modifies anything. When we say modification, it involves a change in the original perception of something by providing additional information.

In addition, 'that' may also act as a subordinate conjunction in which case it neither antecedes nor modifies anything.

We must not get confused between antecedence and modification. This confusion may lead us to seek a distant modifyee than a nearer noun as in the case of emotions vs. phenomena.
The 'that' in the context cannot intend to jump over a verb 'are' and refer to the emotions. The reference tp phenomena seems to be correct in the answer B.

I have a query regarding the non-underlined portion. "Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the argument"
does this has SV pair?
Recent interdisciplinary studies: Subject
Advance:verb

if yes then studies are plural and advance is singular.

If its not a statement then what role is this playing?

I think I am missing something and not able to figure out. Can anyone clarify?

You have identified the subject and verb correctly.

Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the argument...

The one correction to be made here is that advance (verb) is plural. Advances is the one that we'd normally think of as being singular. For example:
Both players advance to the next round.
He advances to the next round.

It's the opposite when we use advance as a noun. Then it is singular.

Hi
I have a silly doubt - i may be mixing two concepts but:
When we have "neither.. nor / either..or /or " we use the subject closest to nor/or to determine the verb. Would the same not be valid for statement A? "Private" is singular
eg neither the players nor the coach IS

Hi Kriti, including those deemed personal or private is just a modifier.

So, the core of the sentence (excluding the modifier) in option A is:

..emotions is a social phenomenon...

Hi even though the answer choice B is correct. I am wondering how can that refer back to a plural "emotions"? isn't "that" only supposed to refer to singular subjects? Please correct me if my understanding is wrong.

In option B, that is not referring to emotions, but to social phenomena.

Note that all relative pronouns (which, that, who, whom, whose etc.) can refer to both singular and plural nouns.

Hi Kritisood,

This type of that can refer to either a singular or plural noun, and in fact does not even have a plural form. It is different from the type of that that points to a noun after it.

1a. That can point to a singular noun after it, but not to a plural noun.
That question...
That questions...

1b. The plural of this kind of that is those.
Those question...
Those questions...

2a. The kind of that that refers to something before it does not have a plural form.
A question that requires...
Questions that require...
Questions those require...

Hi AjiteshArun

In this article, the example at the end eliminates options B and D because " "that” is used as a placeholder for “eggs” hence we need to use “those” – the plural form – here."

Here that refers to something before it (eggs) but still it's wrong. Could you please throw some light?

https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2017/0 ... t-on-gmat/

Hi Kritisood,

Good question! The difference is that the that which doesn't have a plural form is the one which refers to a noun before it, not one which replaces a noun (what you've referred to as a "placeholder"). For example:

1. A question that is difficult usually takes more time to solve. ← Here the that refers to "a question". It cannot, however, be replaced by the noun "question" ("a question question is difficult usually takes more time to solve").

2a. The evidence found in his phone was stronger than that found in his home. ← Here the that does not "refer" to the first evidence, in the sense that it actually introduces an entirely new second evidence.
2b. The evidence found in his phone was stronger than the evidence found in his home. ← We can even replace the that with evidence.

So, a that that refers to (describes) a noun before it can refer to both singular and plural nouns, and does not have a plural form.

Don't you think, "are" in (B) modifies emotions and "including......private" acts as a descriptive phase?

In a word, yes. Whenever you see phrases or clauses that interrupt the main clause and are roped off by double commas, you can skip over the self-contained part to spot subject-verb agreement. In the sentence at hand, we get,

Recent interdisciplinary studies advance the argument that emotions, including those deemed personal or private, are social phenomena that are inseparable from bodily response.

Since those logically refers back to emotions, rather than the earlier studies, we can call the -ing phrase a descriptive one, one that is modifying emotions on the whole.

- Andrew

Hey!!
Ok, so if "that" refers to a noun before it, then it doesn't have to take a singular or a plural form but if "that" replaces the noun before it then it has to be singular. Is my understanding is correct??