The amount of balloons in the car is too many

IMO D.
For balloons are countable, The number is singular

hi..

issues
1) countable VS uncountable
balloons are countable , so NUMBER is correct
Also countable nouns require MANY
ONLY B and D are left

2) the correct IDIOM is
the number of X IS..

ans D

Hi chetan2u,

Is the difficulty level of 600-700 accurate?

Balloons is a countable noun, So the number is appropriate. Eliminate A,C,D
Idiomatic usage is as follows.
A number of workers have extended their support.
The number of workers extending their support is expected to rise.

"The number" -> emphasis is on "number" hence always singular
"A number" -> emphasis is on the noun being referred to (Workers, in the case of above example). Therefore plural.

So option D

A, C, and E are eliminated because of " the amount of balloons"

B vs D
The verb is singular because it refers to 'the number'. The subject of this sentence is 'the number'. 'Of Balloons' is a modifier of 'the number'.

so "is" is correct verb agreement for subject.

D is the answer

The Number = Singular (while A Number is plural)
Baloons = Countable, so Many is appropriate

IMO D.

D. Baloons are countable. So "Number of " & Number of -- singular subject takes singular verb "is"

D as the number so singular and many is countable whereas much is not countable for eg1 how much water is left in flask
Eg2 There are many people walking on road .

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Good job to everyone who got the right answer (and Kudos)!

OE:

This question tests two common components of the GMAT: Countable items and Subject-Verb agreement.
In this question, we are looking at balloons. Balloons are a countable item, so we need to use 'number', instead of 'amount'. Amount corresponds to an item that is not countable. Here is a link for reference: https://sites.google.com/site/englishfm ... t1/unit1-2

For Subject-Verb agreement, we are looking at "the number of balloons". This is an appositive phrase, so the subject of the sentence is number, not balloons. Hence, because it is 'the number', and not 'a number' the sentence should be singular. "Is" does this.

For the visual learner:

The amount of balloons in the car is too high

(A) The amount of balloons in the car is too high
[/color](B) The number of balloons in the car are too high
(C) The amount of balloons in the car are too high
(D) The number of balloons in the car is too high
(E) The total amount of balloons in the car are too high

- Since balloons are countable hence will use 'Number' instead of 'Amount'. Countable Noun concept.
- number IS singular, hence number of balloons​ in the IS too many.
- we use MANY with countable Noun


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