adkikani , you are correct. "Characteristics" is the object of a preposition. The object of a preposition cannot be the subject of the sentence.

• C is correct because "one of the Xs" is singular, based on the rule below. C's verb, WAS, is singular.

• Summary of the rule
I would memorize this rule . . . or understand why it works. Or both.

When we see one of the Xs, whether it is singular or plural turns on whether the phrase is accompanied by THAT/WHO.

ONE OF THE Xs

ONE OF THE Xs + that/who + VERB = always plural

ONE OF THE Xs + VERB = always singular

Look for the words that or who after "one of the Xs."

If that or who IS present, then one of the Xs is plural.
If that or who is NOT present, then one of the Xs is singular.

Explanation of the rule

If we think about it in context, those two rules make sense.
-- In the first case, the person is the only one [of the Xs] who does [singular] Y. Only one X does Y.
-- In the second case, the person is not the only one who does Y.
The person is one of the many Xs who do [plural] Y. Many Xs do Y.

In American football, a quarterback took a knee to protest injustice. Other players and coaches followed. Soon a culture war ensued between Donald Trump and the players who protested or showed solidarity. The NFL banned the practice this year.

Singular - "one of the Xs" VERBS
One of the athletes [Colin Kaepernick] protests injustice by taking a knee.

Meaning: He is the only athlete who chooses "taking a knee" to protest injustice.
-- Other athletes do not protest by "taking a knee."
-- Other athletes protest in different ways. Some of the athletes wear colored ribbons.
Some athletes remain in the locker room until game time.
Other athletes raise clenched fists (and are stripped of gold and silver medals).
-- Only THIS athlete is known to protest in this way.
• In the singular case in which only THE is used (without WHO or THAT), no other Xs do this action.
Only one of the Xs does this action.
(singular) One . . .protests (singular)

• In the plural case with THAT or WHO, there are many Xs who do this action.

Plural - "one of the Xs" that/who VERB

He is one of the athletes WHO protest injustice by taking a knee.

Meaning: There are many athletes who protest by taking a knee.
-- There is a group of athletes who all protest by taking a knee, and he is one of (he is part of) that group.
He is one of many who protest in that way.
(plural) athletes . . . protest

So, adkikani , in correctly deciding that the object of a preposition could not be the subject of the sentence, you got to the correct conclusion: the subject is singular.

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workout , maybe I am missing something you intend, but . . . As you note, the prepositional phrase can affect the subject and hence determine whether the verb should be singular our plural.

I agree that the prepositional phrase modifies the subject -- but the subject in the example used is "some," not "students."

In other words, the object of the preposition (students) is not the subject of the sentence. I think what I see may be a typo.

thangvietnam , E is utter nonsense.
Answer E is indeed missing a "that."
If you read the thread, you will see that others have already discussed other problems with Answer E.
If you have any specific questions about E, please let us know!

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adkikani , I hope that helps.
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The phrases one of and one of the take a singular verb, hence (C) is correct...
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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.)

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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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.

Thanks for the explanation. "a best characteristics" did not sound right to me but could not explain it.

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

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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Whether you use singular or plural verb depends on the corresponding subject.

He is one of those kids who live in joint families. ("who live in joint families" modifies "those kids". So we use plural "live". He is one of them)

One of those kids has your jacket. (Who has your jacket? One of the kids, not those kids. You use singular "has")

Some of those kids are my friends. (Who are my friends? Some of those kids. Subject is "some" which is plural so you use "are")

One of those boys who are sitting in the cafeteria is my brother. ("who are sitting in the cafeteria" modifies "those boys" so we use "are". But only one of them is my brother so "is" corresponds to "one")
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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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