The majority of patrons of the local library, though

Question

The majority of patrons of the local library, though enthusiastic about a new book mobile service,  is unable or either unwilling   to volunteer time to staff it.

A is unable or either unwilling
B is either unable or unwilling
C are unable or either unwilling
D are either unable or unwilling
E are unable or unwilling, either way

daagh · Accepted Answer

I am afraid we have missed an important point here. We are not discussing m ere majority  here. We are discussing  the majority . The article  the  before such words as majority, numbers etc., gives a hint that it is singular, while the article  a  before the same words indicates a plural.

Ex:  The majority  of students is not interested in studies these days 
  A majority  of students  aspire  for the Ivy League Schools

The numbe r of women electronic engineers  is  on the increase nowadays.
 A number of  women electronic engineers  have gone  abroad not as engineers but as housewives

So in the given case: Implicit though the phrase may be, the majority of the patrons is singular and hence the verb should be  is  rather than  are . B is certainly the winner over D, in my view.

flash · Answer

B is either unable or unwilling

Werewolf · Answer

d?
The majority of patrons  are  unable...
The majority  is  unable...

ramana · Answer

IMO D
Majority of Patrons..collection of individuals..should be plural.

sridhar · Answer

+1 for D.. "Majority of patrons" is plural .. 
and hence need 'are' in the sentence.. D and E both have "are", but D is concise and fits the bill..

psychomath · Answer

The majority of patrons has to be singular - If it had been A majority - then plural I guess....BTW i went for B. What is the OA? is it A :-)

or D

psychomath · Answer

Oops I just read the comments of Werewolf and it seems right - The majority is or The majority of patrons are .... I think he makes sense and hence should be D

flash · Answer

I agree D sounds better.

But the below then confuses me :
A majority of the voters  wants  to unseat the incumbent.

Can you help understand the difference? Tks

seekmba · Answer

Hey Werewolf, I am not aware of the below rule:

The majority of patrons are unable...
The majority is unable...

Do you mind sharing the source. I thought 'majority' is always singular.

Werewolf · Answer

I think when you say "the majority", you are defining a group. e.g., words such as committee, council, cabinet, etc which always take a singular verb. I'm not too sure but I hope the following will clear things a little. Here's the rule: quantifier + of + NOUN + verb The NOUN determines whether the verb is singular or plural . For example: Most of the people is/ are ... because the quantifier "most" refers to "people," (a plural noun) so "most" is plural in this sentence. Most of the water is /are... "Most" becomes a non-count noun because "water" is a non-count noun. The verb should agree with the preceding noun or clause . One third of the book deals with the current political situation. One third of the students are planning to ... I believe "majority" acts in the same way as "most" and "one third" in the above examples, except for the fact that unlike "most", "majority" can only be used with countable nouns. As for the source, I got the info from somewhere I don't remember. A printed single page with that info refers to Tai Lieu Du Hoc (U can do a quick search and find the site). I visited the site but couldn't understand a single word, and didn't know how to navigate through it.

leokashyap · Answer

Rule: With words that indicate portions – percent, fraction, part, majority, some, all, none, remainder, and so forth – look at the noun in your of phrase (Object of the preposition) to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the preposition is a plural verb, use a plural verb.
Example: Fifty percent of the pie has disappeared
A high percentage of the population is …, A high percentage of the people are …

leokashyap · Answer

Yes, but in the example the subject is patrons. Need to be careful, what is the sense in this sentence? If you can answer who and what of the verb, you have the answer

gtr022001 · Answer

Words that are sometimes singular and sometimes plural
Majority 'is' but majority of something 'are'

source: SC Grail

Werewolf · Answer

I think you're right. But all of this is so confusing!
'The majority...' should be singular and 'Majority...' or 'A majority..' should be plural?
Could you please elaborate more? Is it because 'the majority...' refers to some specific number or a percentage?

ermks279 · Answer

The Testing point here are
1) Majority and minority can accept singular or plural verb
2) Either Or Usage
3) Collective effort vs individual effort of group.

Here D is correct answer because - majority of patrons of the local library......to volunteer time to staff it. The action performed here is by those individual people in the majority (some x people of this majority group are unwilling to vote). Not the majority as an entity is performing that action.

scheol79 · Answer

I initially agreed with Daagh's pov; however, while googling, I found this link. https://forum.wordreference.com/showthre ... 923&page=2 The majority of Americans believe ... sounds fine. The majority of Americans believes ... sounds awful to my ears. Examples from Cambridge dictionary. The majority of the employees have university degrees. A large majority of people approve of the death sentence. I welcome additional information.

daagh · Answer

If Cambridge has said it, who can appeal over! Even MGMAT retracted its stand on the use of the majority's number and removed the earlier version altogether in its later versions, I am told

What is intriguing however is the flexibility of grammar to adapt. May be this is good for grammar to evolve, but too much for a GMAT test taker, who is not aspiring to become an English teacher. A good manager is not identified by his sense of number agreement either.

Finally to “misquote” the Bard, “ Grammar is not grammar that doesn’t change, when change it finds it expedient "

vigneshpandi · Answer

According to me it is D.
Eg: The majority of people are--Plural
 The people majority is -- Singular

Hope this helps.

rg1 · Answer

IMO it should be D. Context is about patrons and not about majority.

The majority of patrons of the local library, though

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

The majority of patrons of the local library, though

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