The total remittance transfers sent across the world

Question

The total remittance transfers sent across the world from the top three industrial nations in recent  years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budget.

(A) years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(B) years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(C) years are almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(D) years – almost $100 billion annually – are, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(E) years, an amount that is almost $100 billion annually, are, according to the Government Budge Office, roughly the equivalent of the foreign assistance budgets of those three countries.

I chose E - an amount that.. should be an appositive modifier, plus the " transfers " goes well with " are " Also, why is D wrong?

ronr34 · Answer

I chose A for this.
Since we are talking about the "total......" shouldn't the answer be "is" instead of "are"?

shardullavekar · Answer

No it's not total that the verb refers to - it's  transfers .

I actually thought that the noun + noun modifier concept would apply here.
Having said that, I still feel E is the answer.

Anybody care to explain why C is the answer?

vinraj · Answer

Options D and E are definitely wrong. Because they are changing the intended meaning of the Sentence. The Original sentence gives focus on the 'total number of transfers,i.e. almost $100 billion annually' through the main verb  'is'  and also on the equivalence of those three countries’ foreign assistance budget...... So there should not be a shift in meaning. Choice D and E clearly shift the focus away from 'almost $100 billion annually', and hence breaks the intended meaning.

e-gmat always says the intended meaning must be preserved unless we find grammatical mistakes in all the choices that preserve the intended meaning.

In the above question, choices A and B seems to have been shuffled. ( see the exclusion of  'or'  in option A)

Choice A also breaks the intended meaning by removing 'or' ...

Choice C incorrectly uses 'are' to describe 'The total number of transfers' .. Uses 'or' correctly and maintains the intended meaning.

' The  total number of transfers' -----> always singular........

' A  total of 10 transfers were made' ----> PLural

Hence B should be correct (which has 'is' and 'or' in it)....PLease note that choices A and B seem to be shuffled in the Question posted above.

navaljoshi · Answer

Answer is C - use of "are" for remittance transfers and correct modification
A,B out - use of "is"
E - roughly modifying ??
D - Awkward

ronr34 · Answer

But it's the TOTAL of the transfers that is equal to 100 B.
It's not the transfers that are the equal... no?

ronr34 · Answer

Bumping and adding another question

Aren't we talking about the "total remittance transfers"? so isn't this singular. Also, having problems with deciphering the "or" after "Government Budget Office,". Can anyone explain a little more about this?

daagh · Answer

There is something odd about this question. It is supposed to be from Veritas Prep, but see this comment from David Newland, of Veritas.

_________________
David Newland, JD, MA, MAE 
GMAT Instructor, Tutor, and Author 
Veritas Prep

Where do we go from here?

toan3390 · Answer

notMD · Answer

Wish I could vote down such poorly written question.

"total transfers" if used as plural should refer to the number of transferring times. i.e I made 3 money transfers   last week
Clearly, $100 billion or budget means "amount". Hence C is incorrect, meaning-wise

tryambaks · Answer

D and E are incorrect dude to Subject-Verb proximity error.
Modifier is inserted in between S and V
C is correct Answer

neha1993 · Answer

A and B out due to usage of the word 'is' instead of 'are'/
E out due to wordy and redundancy.

Between C and D, it's a tough call.

And the answer is C because it more precise and grammatically correct.

BillyZ · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION 
Solution: C

Explanation: The easiest decision point to start with on this problem is the subject-verb agreement of “is” versus “are”. While “is” might sound correct in this problem, the subject is the plural “transfers” so you need a plural verb. It must be “the transfers….are” not “the transfers…is” This allows you to eliminate (A) and (B). (D) and (E) create illogical meaning so (C) is correct. (C) states properly that according to the Budget Office, the transfers are almost $100 billion annually and that amount is almost the same as the foreign budgets for the three countries. (D) and (E) both state illogically that the Government Budget Office has spent a bunch of time trying to prove that the amount of the transfers is the same as the foreign aid budgets. The Office proved that the amount was $100 billion and that, as a comparison, happens to be as large as the aid budget for those three countries. Answer is (C).

daagh · Answer

As long as there is a plural subject namely, 'transfers', the main verb is going to be the plural 'are'

Therefore, we may dispense with A and B instantly. Only C, D, and E remain. The placement of the appositive modifiers in D and E are rather clumsy and mar the flow of the sentence. They give a feeling that the modifier modifies the proximate 'years' in both cases. Alternatively, to equate the singular $100B or an amount to the plural 'transfers' is rather ungrammatical.
Any other apparent splits among choices are pseudo and can be ignored.

Therefore, it is C all the way.

umabharatigudipalli · Answer

Hi,

I always have this one question creeping into my mind about the "subject" in SC.

We don't know the correct answer and option A might also be a wrong option. As most part of the sentence is underlined, how can we decide the subject here??

According to A, The total remittance transfers are 100$ billion etc .... and a comparison is added. The subject here is very clear.

coming to D, The total remittance transfers ......are roughly equivalent to something else. This can also be the subject, right?

As we are not sure what is the subject, I picked D as it sounds good. Please help me.

Thanks,
Uma

santorasantu · Answer

Only C uses the plural word are referring to transfers. Therefore, C is the right answer.
In D, are seems to refer to years, therefore this is incorrect.

The total remittance transfers sent across the world from the top three industrial nations in recent years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budget.

(A) years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(B) years is almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(C) years are almost $100 billion annually, according to the Government Budget Office, or roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(D) years – almost $100 billion annually – are, according to the Government Budget Office, roughly the equivalent of those three countries’ foreign assistance budgets.

(E) years, an amount that is almost $100 billion annually, are, according to the Government Budge Office, roughly the equivalent of the foreign assistance budgets of those three countries.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The total remittance transfers sent across the world

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