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05 Aug 2022, 01:30
Kudos
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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:
5%
(low)
Question Stats:
86% (00:43) correct
14%
(00:55)
wrong
based on 175
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Though it is difficult to obtain reliable news of the war-torn region, the supply of necessities, everything from flour to drinking water, are thought to be nearly exhausted.
(A) are thought to be nearly exhausted
(B) are thought nearly in exhaustion
(C) is nearly thought to be exhausted
(D) is thought to be nearly exhausted
(E) is thought of as being near to exhaustion
(A) are thought to be nearly exhausted
(B) are thought nearly in exhaustion
(C) is nearly thought to be exhausted
(D) is thought to be nearly exhausted
(E) is thought of as being near to exhaustion
05 Aug 2022, 09:37
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My answer is (D). It took me 43 seconds.
"the supply of necessities" is singular, so we can eliminate (AB) for using "are".
(C) "nearly" should modify "exhausted" rather than "thought".
(E) Among many issues, "being" is inferior to "be".
"the supply of necessities" is singular, so we can eliminate (AB) for using "are".
(C) "nearly" should modify "exhausted" rather than "thought".
(E) Among many issues, "being" is inferior to "be".
07 Aug 2022, 11:45
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Bunuel
Though it is difficult to obtain reliable news of the war-torn region, the supply of necessities, everything from flour to drinking water, are thought to be nearly exhausted.
(A) are thought to be nearly exhausted
(B) are thought nearly in exhaustion
(C) is nearly thought to be exhausted
(D) is thought to be nearly exhausted
(E) is thought of as being near to exhaustion
(A) are thought to be nearly exhausted
(B) are thought nearly in exhaustion
(C) is nearly thought to be exhausted
(D) is thought to be nearly exhausted
(E) is thought of as being near to exhaustion
Official Explanation
The underlined portion starts with a verb, "are." The subject of that verb is "the supply," further back in the sentence. The GMAT loves to disguise a subject-verb agreement error in this way: place the verb far away from the subject. Since "the supply" is singular, the plural verb "are" is incorrect. The verb should be the singular "is." It's The supply ... is, not The supply ... are. By separating the subject and verb, the question is trying to trap students into thinking the subject is actually the plural "necessities." But "necessities" is the object of the prepositional phrase "of necessities," and the object of a prepositional phrase will never be the subject of the sentence's verb.
Scan and Group the Answer Choices:
A quick scan of the choices reveals a nice 3-2 split, with (C), (D), and (E) beginning with "is" and (A) and (B) beginning with "are."
Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:
(A) and (B) can be eliminated immediately, since they pair the plural verb "are" with the singular subject "supply."
(C) places the modifier "nearly" in front of "thought," changing the meaning of the sentence. The meaning of the original sentence is that people definitely think the supplies have almost run out. (C) makes it sound like people almost think the supplies have totally run out. Whether or not this even makes sense, it certainly changes the meaning of the sentence and is therefore incorrect. Eliminate (C).
(E) uses the correct singular verb "is" and has no major grammatical errors. (E) is awkward and wordy, however. In particular, (E) changes the direct "to be" from the original sentence to "as being." The GMAT hates this form of the verb, so be wary of any choice that uses "being." Again, unless no other choice is free of grammatical errors, eliminate (E).
(D) uses the correct singular verb "is" and maintains the conciseness of the original sentence. (D)'s short, direct, and idiomatically correct "thought to be" is vastly superior to (E)'s wordy "thought of as being." (D) is the answer.
TAKEAWAY: When the underlined portion contains a verb, be clear about what the subject of that verb is. Be only the lookout for long phrases separating the subject from the verb. The GMAT could be trying to disguise a subject-verb agreement error.
