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zisis
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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests 20 May 2010, 12:57
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25% (00:02) correct 75% (00:36) wrong based on 4 sessions

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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests hahas been documented by a number if researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are the root cause of this decline, the reason for the lack of equality between school systems and the degree to which teachers can be held accountable

(A) has been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are
(B) has been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine is
(C) have been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are
(D) is documented by a number of researchers, but what has been more difficult to determine are
(E) are documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine is

Please explain logic !

OA: (B)



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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests 20 May 2010, 14:34
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zisis
The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests hahas been documented by a number if researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are the root cause of this decline, the reason for the lack of equality between school systems and the degree to which teachers can be held accountable

(A) has been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are
(B) has been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine is
(C) have been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are
(D) is documented by a number of researchers, but what has been more difficult to determine are
(E) are documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine is

Please explain logic !

OA: (B)
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Subject is "decline" so that eliminates c, d, and e
difficult to determine is....In this part an "is" is needed because of the subject "cause"
They try to make the sentence more confusing by putting the verb before the subject
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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests 20 May 2010, 14:41
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the decline .... has --> this is correct and agree is number
the decline .... have/are --> does not agree in number

this eliminates .. C & E

.. what is more difficult to determine are the root cause of this decline
flip this sentence to see whether to use is or are
the root cause of this decline IS/ARE more difficult to determine --> i hope it is clear now .... use IS

this eliminates .. A, C & D

B it is

oh, and, don't forget to press KUDOS if you like the explanation ;)
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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests 20 May 2010, 16:12
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dimitri92
the decline .... has --> this is correct and agree is number
the decline .... have/are --> does not agree in number

this eliminates .. C & E

.. what is more difficult to determine are the root cause of this decline
flip this sentence to see whether to use is or are
the root cause of this decline IS/ARE more difficult to determine --> i hope it is clear now .... use IS

this eliminates .. A, C & D

B it is

oh, and, don't forget to press KUDOS if you like the explanation ;)
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kudos ! the flip the sentence trick will be useful for future probs :idea:
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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests 21 May 2010, 09:14
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OA is B

The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests has been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are the root cause of this decline, the reason for the lack of equality between school systems and the degree to which teachers can be held accountable.

(A) has been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are - 'decline' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'has'. 'root cause' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'is'

(B) has been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine is - 'decline' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'has'. 'root cause' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'is'

(C) have been documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine are - 'decline' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'has'. 'root cause' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'is'

(D) is documented by a number of researchers, but what has been more difficult to determine are - 'decline' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'has'. 'root cause' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'is'

(E) are documented by a number of researchers, but what is more difficult to determine is - 'decline' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'has'. 'root cause' is singular noun and so we need singular verb 'is'
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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests 25 Jun 2010, 01:09
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what is more difficult to determine are the root cause of this decline, the reason for the lack of equality between school systems and the degree to which teachers can be held accountable.

In this part of the sentence, i think "are" is better than "is" since there are three things that are most difficult to determine. Isn't it?
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The decline in students' perfomances on state-wide tests 25 Jun 2010, 08:09
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what is more difficult to determine are the root cause of this decline, the reason for the lack of equality between school systems and the degree to which teachers can be held accountable.

In this part of the sentence, i think "are" is better than "is" since there are three things that are most difficult to determine. Isn't it?
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The coordinating conjunction "but" creates another sentence, which is made of of an independent clause and a dependent clause. The subject and the verb must be in the independent clause.

What is more difficult to determine is the root cause of this decline - independent clause

the reason for the lack of equality between school systems and the degree to which teachers can be held accountable - this is a dependent clause hence the main subject and the main verb can not be in this sentence. This sentence modifies cause and does not act like a subject.



Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
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