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AmoyV
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 09 Oct 2014, 12:03
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D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

35% (medium)

Question Stats:

53% (00:43) correct 47% (00:44) wrong based on 702 sessions

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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were ready.

A. neither of their orders were ready
B. neither of its orders were ready
C. neither of its order was ready
D. neither of its orders was ready
E. its orders, neither of them, were ready
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D
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mikemcgarry
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 09 Oct 2014, 17:21
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AmoyV
The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were ready.

A. neither of their orders were ready
B. neither of its orders were ready
C. neither of its order was ready
D. neither of its orders was ready
E. its orders, neither of them, were ready
Show more
Dear AmoyV,
I'm happy to help. :-) This SC question is not entirely GMAT-like, because it's so anemic, but its logic is sound.

The word "neither" is ALWAYS SINGULAR. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... agreement/
Thus, we need a singular verb with "neither."

This question also contains a classic pronoun trap. The word "company" is singular --- yes, there may be several people who work there, but the word itself is singular, and requires a singular pronoun, "its", not "their." See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-pronoun-traps/

Choice (A) is out because of the pronoun mistake, and both choices (A) & (B) are out because of the verb mistake. There are two orders, so the word "orders" must be in the plural, so (C) is wrong. Choice (E) is embarrassingly wordy and indirect, a nightmare: this is wrong. This only leave (D), which is perfectly correct on all counts.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 15 Aug 2017, 09:32
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AmoyV
The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were ready.

A. neither of their orders were ready
B. neither of its orders were ready
C. neither of its order was ready
D. neither of its orders was ready
E. its orders, neither of them, were ready
Dear AmoyV,
I'm happy to help. :-) This SC question is not entirely GMAT-like, because it's so anemic, but its logic is sound.

The word "neither" is ALWAYS SINGULAR. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-sente ... agreement/
Thus, we need a singular verb with "neither."

This question also contains a classic pronoun trap. The word "company" is singular --- yes, there may be several people who work there, but the word itself is singular, and requires a singular pronoun, "its", not "their." See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-pronoun-traps/

Choice (A) is out because of the pronoun mistake, and both choices (A) & (B) are out because of the verb mistake. There are two orders, so the word "orders" must be in the plural, so (C) is wrong. Choice (E) is embarrassingly wordy and indirect, a nightmare: this is wrong. This only leave (D), which is perfectly correct on all counts.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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hello, I have a question. "every one of" and "many a" will appear in gmat. The former is tricky because "every one of us" is singular while "every one of boys" is plural
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 15 Aug 2017, 09:58
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hello, I have a question. "every one of" and "many a" will appear in gmat. The former is tricky because "every one of us" is singular while "every one of boys" is plural
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Dear chesstitans,

The structure "every one of the X's" is always singular.
Every one of us is happy.
Every one of the students is happy.

The one that's tricky is "all." The structure "all of [singular]" is singular and the structure "all of [plural]" is plural.
All of the students are happy.
All of their happiness is due to the upcoming vacation.

See:
GMAT Sentence Correction: Indefinite Pronouns and Agreement

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 15 Aug 2017, 13:55
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chesstitans

hello, I have a question. "every one of" and "many a" will appear in gmat. The former is tricky because "every one of us" is singular while "every one of boys" is plural
Dear chesstitans,

The structure "every one of the X's" is always singular.
Every one of us is happy.
Every one of the students is happy.

The one that's tricky is "all." The structure "all of [singular]" is singular and the structure "all of [plural]" is plural.
All of the students are happy.
All of their happiness is due to the upcoming vacation.

See:
GMAT Sentence Correction: Indefinite Pronouns and Agreement

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)
Show more

thanks, that does help to me a lot. "many a" will appear in gmat?
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 16 Aug 2017, 10:00
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chesstitans
thanks, that does help to me a lot. "many a" will appear in gmat?
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Dear chesstitans,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

It's certainly fair game. The structure "many an X" certainly could appear on the GMAT: it's a sophisticated structure typical of the writing on the SC. Of course, on the real GMAT, you will see only about 12-14 SC questions, so obviously not every possible grammatical structure will appear among them: many things could appear, but it's luck of the draw what actually does appear.

Does this make sense?

Mike :-)
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 28 Mar 2019, 04:27
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Here's how to differentiate between B and D.

Rule: when Either/ Neither are used by themselves, the verb must be singular

Rule:When you are faced with a Either/OR, Neither/NOR constructions then you must always MAKE THE VERB AGREE TO THE SUBJECT CLOSEST TO IT.
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 06 Nov 2020, 03:00
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AmoyV
The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were ready.

A. neither of their orders were ready
B. neither of its orders were ready
C. neither of its order was ready
D. neither of its orders was ready
E. its orders, neither of them, were ready
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Official Explanation



Answer: D

(A) Requires the singular pronoun its to refer to company and the singular verb was.
(B) Requires the singular verb was.
(C) Since there are two orders, the correct term is orders and not order.
(D) The correct answer.
(E) Awkward and ungrammatical construction.
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The vendor informed the company that neither of their orders were read 01 Apr 2022, 18:46
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