Most citrus that reaches New York State comes from orchards

Question

Most citrus that reaches New York State comes from orchards in Florida,  where it has been grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen.

(A) where it has been grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen
 (B) where they are grown, harvested, concentrated, and have been frozen
 (C) where it is grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen
 (D) where it was grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen
 (E) where they are grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen

Let me know if you guys find it weird. This is from BELL CURVES.
Do give Kudos if you like the question. 
Thank you.

Explanation:
Spot the Error (click here to learn more about the common error types and how to spot them): 
The presence of the pronoun (it) should alert you that that is what is being tested.

Rule and Fix: 
Pronouns must agree with the noun that it refers to (citrus), this one does so check the choices to see if any of them change the pronoun to one that does not agree.

POE: 
B and E both change the pronoun to the plural "they", which does not agree with the singular citrus.

Chunk and Compare: 
Compare A to C. 
The difference between these two choices is the verbs "is" and "has been". Since the citrus is grown (and harvested) at only one point in time rather than over a period of time as the  ] (has been) suggests "is" is more appropriate here.

Compare C to D. Again the verb is the difference, this time its the past (was) versus the present (is). Since nothing implies that the citrus is no longer grown use the present not the past.

Reread your choice: 
Choose C.

daagh · Accepted Answer

The use of the singular present tense verb  reaches  in the un-underlined portion indicates that the author considers  most citrus  singular and the happening a usual event entailing a simple present tense. As such Choice C fulfils these norms and is the right choice

shrouded1 · Answer

I think this question, or a very similar one is in the OG as well. Good illustration of the fact that "citrus" is singular

hemanthp · Answer

excellent catch Daagh! well done. I Didn't notice that piece.

WaterFlowsUp · Answer

Bumping for review and further discussion*.

*New project from GMAT Club!!! Check HERE

Theory on Verb Tense, mood and voice erros: in-a-nutshell-independent-clause-and-dependent-clause-160401.html#p1270476

mohnish104 · Answer

The key word here is 'reaches'...

vietmoi999 · Answer

why A is wrong? a present perfect is used to talk about fact happening in the past and continuing into the present. So, A is right

pls, explain why A is wrong or we have to accept that this question is not good.

rever08 · Answer

Most citrus that reaches   New York State comes from orchards in Florida, where it has been grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen.

So, "Most citrus" will take singular verb.

(A) where it  has been  grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen 
(B) where  they  are grown, harvested, concentrated, and have been frozen
(C) where it is grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen - Correct 
(D) where it  was  grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen
(E) where  they  are grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen

protimakudnu@yahoo.com · Answer

Can anyone explain why A is wrong.

janadipesh · Answer

Most Citrus has been grown
Sir, Why A is wrong ?

brs1cob · Answer

could anyone explain why singular verb is used for 'most citrus' . Most citrus should be plural right ?

Ranasaymon · Answer

Most citrus... comes from orchards in Florida,  where it has been  grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen.

Error: 
= >The sentence conveys general information. We need to use simple present tense. 
we need to say'it is grown...'

=> Use present perfect in certain cases.
1. Something was happened in past but the effect is still present 
2. Something was started in past but the action is still continuing.
3. To exoress indefinite time in past.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Most citrus that reaches New York State comes from orchards in Florida,  where it has been grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen.

(A) where it has been grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen
 (B) where they are grown, harvested, concentrated, and have been frozen
 (C) where it is grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen
 (D) where it was grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen
 (E) where they are grown, harvested, concentrated, and frozen

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The question is based on the concepts of Subject-Verb agreement and Tense.

At first sight, the list of participles (grown, harvested, concentrated and frozen) might mislead us into looking at the question as a parallelism-based one. However, Option B is the only one that deviates from the pattern. So, that is one reason to eliminate B.

The other reason is Subject-Verb agreement. Option B has the plural verb ‘are’. The subject of the sentence is “Most citrus”. The first part of the sentence also contains the verbs ‘reaches’ and ‘comes’, which tell us that the subject is singular. Therefore, the plural verb ‘are’ is wrong in this sentence, since all the verbs refer to the subject ‘Most citrus’.

Option E can be eliminated for the same reason as Option B. It also has the plural pronoun ‘they’, which cannot be used to refer to the singular antecedent ‘Most citrus’.

We are left with Options A, C, and D.

The difference among the three options is of tense. Option A contains the verb ‘has been grown’ in the present perfect tense.

Option D contains the verb ‘was grown’ in the simple past tense.

Option C contains the verb ‘is grown’ in the simple present tense (passive).

Of the three, D can be eliminated as the verbs in the first part of the sentence are in the present tense and there isn’t a drastic difference in time in the sentence to justify a change in tense.

To maintain consistency of tense, the simple present tense should be used instead of the present perfect tense. Furthermore, the adjective ‘most’ indicates that a general statement is being made about ‘citrus’ and the verbs in the simple present tense corroborates that. The simple present tense is used to make general statements or convey universal truths.

Therefore, C is the best option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

fmcgee1 · Answer

So the consensus seems to be that "citrus" is singular because of the verb "reaches".

However, if we replace "citrus" with another singular noun, let's say apple, then it does not make sense.

"Most  apple  that reaches New York State comes from orchards in Florida".

I'm not buying that C is the official answer, or that this is an official GMAT question.

Most citrus that reaches New York State comes from orchards

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Most citrus that reaches New York State comes from orchards

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards