Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing : Sentence Correction (EA only)

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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

28 Jul 2018, 19:15

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What I understood from all above explanation is that, though police is collective noun, police is in plural form in context of this question. After finishing this question, I went through other GMAT study material and learnt that either police or the police is always in plural form.

Moreover when I read B and C with more attention I got below explanation.

In B,
(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.
Here who is incapable of curbing crimes..they and they can refer to some people or police. It is not clear here who are curbing crimes.

In C,
(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.
Here police are incapable as they have limited power. They refers to police in context of question.

Therefore, C is correct.
In sum, what lesson I got from this question, sometimes the meaning and context of question can give you best answers than the grammar rule can.

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

27 Jul 2018, 05:35

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archish3113 wrote:

Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

Police is singular so option with are " B, C" is out.
IT placement seems to be wrong in D.

Between A & E : option E having limited power refers to people.
IMO A is correct...

Even if Police was singular, In option A Please note: "Police is" singula and "because they have" [Plural]. this makes it incorrect automatically.

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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

09 Aug 2019, 13:04

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Learned something new here. The noun 'police' (and people) is plural.

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

29 Jun 2021, 23:41

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DmitryFarber
Can you please help me with this question. I was able to narrow it down to options C and D, but I ended up choosing option D as I thought that this option is much clearer than option C in which the pronoun "they" is used that I thought is ambiguous and can refer to either police or people.

Please correct my reasoning. Thanks in advance

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

30 Jun 2021, 00:45

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AL05
I think the posts above cover why D is wrong. In American English, "police" is plural. (I know there is some international variation on whether certain collective nouns are seen as singular or plural, but this is the American standard.)

As for "they," we don't want to cut a pronoun just because there is more than one noun it could refer to. There has to be a chance that a reasonable reader will be legitimately confused about what the intended antecedent of the pronoun is. The sentence only makes sense if "they" refers to police, so we ought to read the sentence that way. Only cut "it/they" if the pronoun doesn't match the needed noun, or if the meaning is truly unclear.

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

16 Feb 2023, 10:52

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MartyTargetTestPrep wrote:

shanks2020 wrote:

Any official question which you remember had similar close options and the correct option was decided was decided only by where the pronoun was placed?

No such question comes to mind, and I doubt you'll see on the GMAT a question with a decision point like the one we're discussing here.

MartyTargetTestPrep

That's a breather ...

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

27 Jul 2018, 05:07

Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(D) the police, because it has limited power, is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(E) having limited power, the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

Police is singular so option with are " B, C" is out.
IT placement seems to be wrong in D.

Between A & E : option E having limited power refers to people.
IMO A is correct...

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

27 Jul 2018, 05:11

Bunuel wrote:

Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

+1 for C.

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power. --> Correct, rectifies S-V error, and no pronoun ambiguity

(D) the police, because it has limited power, is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(E) having limited power, the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

Hence, C.

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

27 Jul 2018, 05:15

archish3113 wrote:

Police is singular so option with are " B, C" is out.
IT placement seems to be wrong in D.

Between A & E : option E having limited power refers to people.
IMO A is correct...

archish3113
As far as I know Police is not singular, but plural.

Strange! i know, but exception they say

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

28 Jul 2018, 10:50

Bunuel wrote:

Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power. Police follows plural verb

(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully. Passive

(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power. Correct

(D) the police, because it has limited power, is incapable of curbing crime successfully. Police follows plural verb

(E) having limited power, the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

Police follows plural verb

IMO C. Unlike other collective nouns, police follows a plural verb. Hence, options with plural verbs are incorrect

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

24 Jun 2021, 09:30

daagh wrote:

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(D) the police, because it has limited power, is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(E) having limited power, the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully.
'Police' is an exception from the normal usage of collective nouns as singular in that it is generally considered plural. When Police is used as an adjective, (as in the police officer) it could be singular depending upon the noun that it follows.
Therefore, it will be safe to eliminate choices A, D, and E.
Between B and C --If this questing was based on the subtlety of the pronoun ambiguity, then it must be an old question. These days we take the logical reference of the pronoun as the aptest.
To say that the people are not able to curb crimes because police have limited power is somewhat weird. Therefore, we can ditch B also, leaving C

Are there any other exceptions from the normal usage of collective nouns as singular that one should know about?

Posted from my mobile device

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Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

15 Feb 2023, 09:13

daagh wrote:

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

(D) the police, because it has limited power, is incapable of curbing crime successfully.

(E) having limited power, the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully.
'Police' is an exception from the normal usage of collective nouns as singular in that it is generally considered plural. When Police is used as an adjective, (as in the police officer) it could be singular depending upon the noun that it follows.
Therefore, it will be safe to eliminate choices A, D, and E.
Between B and C --If this questing was based on the subtlety of the pronoun ambiguity, then it must be an old question. These days we take the logical reference of the pronoun as the aptest.
To say that the people are not able to curb crimes because police have limited power is somewhat weird. Therefore, we can ditch B also, leaving C

MartyTargetTestPrep
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Can you please let know why "they" is ambiguous in option B and not in option C?

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

15 Feb 2023, 15:01

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shanks2020 wrote:

daagh wrote:

Between B and C --If this questing was based on the subtlety of the pronoun ambiguity, then it must be an old question. These days we take the logical reference of the pronoun as the aptest.
To say that the people are not able to curb crimes because police have limited power is somewhat weird. Therefore, we can ditch B also, leaving C

Can you please let know why "they" is ambiguous in option B and not in option C?

Here's the (B) version:

Some people are of the opinion that because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

In this version, "the police" appears in a modifying clause "because the police have limited power." That clause could explain why either "some people" or "the police" are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

So, which noun phrase "they" refers to is pretty ambiguous, though it seems more likely to be "the police."

Here's the (C) version.

Some people are of the opinion that the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

This version reverses the modifier and clause so that, now, the clause clearly states that the police are incapable and "because they have limited power" modifies the clause explaining why the police are incapable. While we could still argue that they could refer to "some people," it just seems much more logical that the police would be incapable because they have limited power. So, the meaning conveyed by the (C) version leans hard toward "they" referring to "the police."

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

15 Feb 2023, 21:05

MartyTargetTestPrep wrote:

shanks2020 wrote:

daagh wrote:

Between B and C --If this questing was based on the subtlety of the pronoun ambiguity, then it must be an old question. These days we take the logical reference of the pronoun as the aptest.
To say that the people are not able to curb crimes because police have limited power is somewhat weird. Therefore, we can ditch B also, leaving C

Can you please let know why "they" is ambiguous in option B and not in option C?

Here's the (B) version:

Some people are of the opinion that because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

In this version, "the police" appears in a modifying clause "because the police have limited power." That clause could explain why either "some people" or "the police" are incapable of curbing crime successfully.

So, which noun phrase "they" refers to is pretty ambiguous, though it seems more likely to be "the police."

Here's the (C) version.

Some people are of the opinion that the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power.

This version reverses the modifier and clause so that, now, the clause clearly states that the police are incapable and "because they have limited power" modifies the clause explaining why the police are incapable. While we could still argue that they could refer to "some people," it just seems much more logical that the police would be incapable because they have limited power. So, the meaning conveyed by the (C) version leans hard toward "they" referring to "the police."

MartyTargetTestPrep

Thanks! However, as you mentioned there is still ambuiguity in the correct option. It is just about choosing the lesser evil.
Any official question which you remember had similar close options and the correct option was decided was decided only by where the pronoun was placed?

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

16 Feb 2023, 09:40

Expert Reply

shanks2020 wrote:

Any official question which you remember had similar close options and the correct option was decided was decided only by where the pronoun was placed?

No such question comes to mind, and I doubt you'll see on the GMAT a question with a decision point like the one we're discussing here.

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Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

28 Jan 2024, 22:07

(A) the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power. (Incorrect: agreement error)
Police is in first clause and they in the second clause, it should be police are and they have.

(B) because the police have limited power, they are incapable of curbing crime successfully. (Incorrect: concision error)
First that + because, two conjunctions together should not be used when you have a better version is C

(C) the police are incapable of curbing crime successfully because they have limited power. (Correct)
Concise and clear

(D) the police, because it has limited power, is incapable of curbing crime successfully. (Incorrect: modifier error)
Because it has limited power is a verb modifier, not a noun modifier hence it cannot modifier noun police. It is the correct placement

(E) having limited power, the police is incapable of curbing crime successfully. (Incorrect: redundancy)
Having power is an incorrect expression as having has multiple meanings.

gmatclubot

Re: Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing [#permalink]

28 Jan 2024, 22:07

GMAT Sentence Correction (EA only) Questions

Some people are of the opinion that the police is incapable of curbing