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Sub 505 Level|   Grammatical/Rhetorical Construction|                     
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A. one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting - Incorrect - Awkward

B. one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking - Incorrect - Subject Verb error

C. one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract - Correct

D. a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take - Incorrect - Fragment

E. among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract - Incorrect - Fragment

Answer: C
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Gnpth
The interior minister explained that one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting from the project’s overall benefit by being a burden on the development budget.

A. one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting
B. one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking
C. one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract
D. a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take
E. among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract

The phrases one of and one of the take a singular verb, hence (C) is correct...
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B is a mess that you can't even.. smh
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(D) a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take.

Could anyone tell me whether the answer (D) is grammatically correct?
For me, it looks like two independent clauses without proper conjunction or "that"( ... proposals was that it did not take.)
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(D) a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take.

Could anyone tell me whether the answer (D) is grammatically correct?
For me, it looks like two independent clauses without proper conjunction or "that"( ... proposals was that it did not take.)

D has the run on sentence after comma "was, it did not take.". Hence, D is grammatically incorrect.
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Gnpth
The interior minister explained that one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting from the project’s overall benefit by being a burden on the development budget.

A.one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting
B.one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking
C.one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract
D.a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take
E.among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract

Hi sayantanc2k / Experts,

Can Somebody, please explain B/C in meaning?

What is difference between "village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics" & "best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal" ?

Thanks
Nandish
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NandishSS

Hi sayantanc2k / Experts,

Can Somebody, please explain B/C in meaning?

What is difference between "village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics" & "best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal" ?

Thanks
Nandish

Hi Nandish,

I don't think that there is any meaning difference between the two. A's best characteristics is same as best characteristics of A.
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The interior minister explained that one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting from the project’s overall benefit by being a burden on the development budget.

Analysis: Looking at the underlined portions of the sentence, we need a "...was that..." so that the description of the characteristic can follow it.

A. one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting
- Incorrect with pronoun reference and working verb

B. one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking
- Same as (A)

C. one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract
- "it" clearly refers to the characteristics and "did not detract" has the correct form of working verb.

D. a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take
- The clause before comma is sentence fragment.
- Also, "a" is not the correct article to reference to the "best characteristics" [Someone correct me if this is a not an issue]

E. among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract
- Again the clause before first comma is a sentence fragment. Also, "one was" is a fragment.
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anox wrote

Quote:
D. a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take
- The clause before comma is sentence fragment.
- Also, "a" is not the correct article to reference to the "best characteristics" [Someone correct me if this is a not an issue]
It is certainly an issue. The superlative degree of comparison is a unique and absolute feature and it should be modified by the definite article 'the' in formal written English of GMAT.
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daagh
anox wrote

Quote:
D. a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take
- The clause before comma is sentence fragment.
- Also, "a" is not the correct article to reference to the "best characteristics" [Someone correct me if this is a not an issue]
It is certainly an issue. The superlative degree of comparison is a unique and absolute feature and it should be modified by the definite article 'the' in formal written English of GMAT.

Thanks for the explanation. "a best characteristics" did not sound right to me but could not explain it.
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Gnpth
The interior minister explained that one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting from the project’s overall benefit by being a burden on the development budget.

A. one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting
B. one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking
C. one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract
D. a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take
E. among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract

Well, we could say that "A' is awkward; however, writing off an answer choice as awkward may not actually help explain why that particular answer choice is wrong or better yet help to elucidate the sentence's intended meaning. What is incorrect about answer choice "A" is the pairing of "their " with "proposal's." This is grammatically incorrect..."their" must be paired with a plural noun. Concision and logic matter on the GMAT- but this certainly does not mean immediately eliminating the wordiest answer choice or even an answer choice that sounds "awkward." The whole idea of eliminating answer choices on the basis of sounding awkward may be more applicable to questions testing idioms- even then we cannot afford to entirely rely on your ear- this is a very common mistake. There's actually a few idioms that arguably sound awkward and that many native American speakers even get wrong. Many Americans, surprisingly, say " I prefer ___ over___" this is incorrect- it should I prefer x___to___Y. Anyways, I do not mean to dismiss the notion that sentences that inherently sound awkward should not raise skepticism- they should raise a yellow light rather a red light and we should not forget to also use logic and rules.


Thus
"C"
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I'm really confused with the Subject and the Verb here. Can someone please help understand?
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haritrathi94

Here is how I would break it down:

The interior minister explained

that (presence of that suggests another dependent clause)

one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was

that

it did not detract from the project’s overall benefit by being a burden on the development budget.

generis GMATNinja KarishmaB workout

I at times falter for 10 s to know verb for phrases such as one of the best characteristics
The reason why need a singular verb was to refer to above complete phrase and not
a plural verb characteristics is that a noun in the prepositional phrase cannot be a subject of the plural verb - were. Am I correct?
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adkikani
generis GMATNinja KarishmaB workout

I at times falter for 10 s to know verb for phrases such as one of the best characteristics
The reason why need a singular verb was to refer to above complete phrase and not
a plural verb characteristics is that a noun in the prepositional phrase cannot be a subject of the plural verb - were. Am I correct?

adkikani here is what I think

There are few cases where if the part before the subject modifies the quantity of the subject, then the subject can be in the prepositional phrase.

Example "some of the students got their books" Here "some of the" talks about quantity of students. So, the subject is students and it is plural.

The few exceptions to the above are "one of the", "none of the" and "the number of" which are always singular

"one of the students got his/her book".
"none of the students got his/her book"
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[quote="Gnpth"]The interior minister explained that one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting from the project’s overall benefit by being a burden on the development budget.

(A) one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting

(B) one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking

(C) one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract

(D) a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take

(E) among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract

in some official answer in og books, "that " can be omitted

the problem is he dose not reply=the problem is that he does not reply

but we can not insert a comma

the problem is, he dose not reply

inserting a comma makes 2 sentences not connected, a run on sentence.

so , choice E and E are wrong
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The interior minister explained that one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting from the project’s overall benefit by being a burden on the development budget.

(A) one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting should be its

(B) one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking should be was

(C) one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract - Correct

(D) a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take - should be the best and also the second part an independent sentence is separated just by a comma

(E) among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract - same as D and also changes the meaning.

VeritasKarishma - Could you please check my reasoning?

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(A) one of the village planning proposal’s best characteristics was their not detracting

(B) one of the village’s planning proposal’s best characteristics were its not taking

(C) one of the best characteristics of the village’s planning proposal was that it did not detract

(D) a best characteristic of the village planning proposal was, it did not take

(E) among the village planning proposal’s best characteristics, one was, it did not detract
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