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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 29 Aug 2019, 21:36
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.

A. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than
B. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times more than
C. financial ruin; their assets are now almost threefold
D. financial ruin; now with threefold the assets
E. financial ruin; now with assets three times greater than
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 30 Aug 2019, 03:55
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Bunuel
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.
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A. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than -> Correct
B. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times more than -> Although I'm not a fan of such logic: "Greater than" preferred over "More than"
C. financial ruin; their assets are now almost threefold -> "Their" referring back to "The Watsons", which is singular (the verb "has" also gives us this clue)
D. financial ruin; now with threefold the assets (fragmented sentence)
E. financial ruin; now with assets three times greater than (fragmented sentence)
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 05 Jul 2020, 01:06
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Bunuel
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.

A. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than
B. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times more than
C. financial ruin; their assets are now almost threefold
D. financial ruin; now with threefold the assets
E. financial ruin; now with assets three times greater than
Show more



How is its referring to The watsons ?
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 10 Jul 2020, 01:24
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ahabib
Bunuel
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.

A. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than -> Correct
B. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times more than -> Although I'm not a fan of such logic: "Greater than" preferred over "More than"
C. financial ruin; their assets are now almost threefold -> "Their" referring back to "The Watsons", which is singular (the verb "has" also gives us this clue)
D. financial ruin; now with threefold the assets (fragmented sentence)
E. financial ruin; now with assets three times greater than (fragmented sentence)
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Can you please tell what is "their" referring to in the first option?

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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 10 Jul 2020, 16:10
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Seems like their refers to the members within the family. It refers to the family as a unit

Posted from my mobile device
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 10 Jul 2020, 21:40
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thelion10
Seems like their refers to the members within the family. It refers to the family as a unit

Posted from my mobile device
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I also thought of the same, but i can't convince myself.
And Thanks

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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 23 Aug 2020, 18:07
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thelion10
Seems like their refers to the members within the family. It refers to the family as a unit

Posted from my mobile device
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Seems like that would have to be the logic, but I can't picture the phrase "The [Smiths] has [verbed][preposition]" in just about any situation...
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 23 Aug 2020, 20:09
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Quote:
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.
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How to decide whether its (A,B ) or their (C)?

Hello Moderators, Abhi077, generis, BillyZ

Could you please comment on this problem?
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 23 Aug 2020, 20:58
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Quote:
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.


How to decide whether its (A,B ) or their (C)?

Hello Moderators, Abhi077, generis, BillyZ

Could you please comment on this problem?
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'The watsons' - Is the subject

'a prominent Staten Island family'- additional information about subject/modifier which tells us more about the watsons

Has survived- Is the verb

Now, The non underlined part clearly states that our subject 'The watsons' is followed by the verb 'Has survived' hence it should be treated as singular and should be followed by singular pronoun. So clearly C is out.

Now between A & B,

It's a comparison of degree/level/Number. By definition, Asset is classified as a resource with economic value Hence It's often classified as number. So in this case we prefer greater than. It conveys 'The number of X(present) is greater than Number of Y(what was before)\

I hope this helps :)
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 23 Aug 2020, 23:42
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ahabib
Bunuel
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.

A. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than -> Correct
B. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times more than -> Although I'm not a fan of such logic: "Greater than" preferred over "More than"
C. financial ruin; their assets are now almost threefold -> "Their" referring back to "The Watsons", which is singular (the verb "has" also gives us this clue)
D. financial ruin; now with threefold the assets (fragmented sentence)
E. financial ruin; now with assets three times greater than (fragmented sentence)
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Sir, can you please explain how it is fine to use " its assets" with their problems
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 24 Aug 2020, 05:16
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ahabib
Bunuel
The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close brush with financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than what they were before their problems commenced.

A. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times greater than -> Correct
B. financial ruin; its assets are now almost three times more than -> Although I'm not a fan of such logic: "Greater than" preferred over "More than"
C. financial ruin; their assets are now almost threefold -> "Their" referring back to "The Watsons", which is singular (the verb "has" also gives us this clue)
D. financial ruin; now with threefold the assets (fragmented sentence)
E. financial ruin; now with assets three times greater than (fragmented sentence)

Sir, can you please explain how it is fine to use " its assets" with their problems
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its assets is plural.
their problems refer to ASSETS' PROBLEMS not FAMILY PROBLEMS
They refer to assets.

Sneaky!
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 08 Nov 2020, 21:29
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Hi mikemcgarry,

Can you please help me the use of 'greater than' instead of 'more than' in the OA? Does it have to do anything with 'Countable vs uncountable'?

Thanks
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 08 Jan 2021, 03:03
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Why The Watsons is singular? Can anyone explain?
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 09 Jan 2021, 23:05
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bahruz1992
Why The Watsons is singular? Can anyone explain?
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Hi bahruz1992

In the sentence it states 'a prominent Staten Island Family', therefore Watsons refers to a family (singular) instead of people (plural). That's what my guess is.

Thanks
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 09 Jan 2021, 23:40
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Ankit137
bahruz1992
Why The Watsons is singular? Can anyone explain?

Hi bahruz1992

In the sentence it states 'a prominent Staten Island Family', therefore Watsons refers to a family (singular) instead of people (plural). That's what my guess is.

Thanks
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bahruz1992, I agree with Ankit137 here.

'a prominent Staten Island Family':--> makes Watsons a singular subject.
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 10 Jan 2021, 12:01
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Thank you very much!

warrior1991
Ankit137
bahruz1992
Why The Watsons is singular? Can anyone explain?

Hi bahruz1992

In the sentence it states 'a prominent Staten Island Family', therefore Watsons refers to a family (singular) instead of people (plural). That's what my guess is.

Thanks

bahruz1992, I agree with Ankit137 here.

'a prominent Staten Island Family':--> makes Watsons a singular subject.
Show more
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 11 Jan 2021, 02:00
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In this question what does the "their" in the end part (non underlined portion) refer to, if "Watsons" as a family is to be taken in a singular manner. Isn't their a conflict in number here. So with Option "A" the whole sentence becomes :


Its assets ...... commencement of their Problem .
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 22 Mar 2021, 21:28
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived

has is singular...rules out C) automatically.

I don't know that I find the OA satisfactory

more than/greater than CAN be interchangeable with 'greater than'...the latter is reserved for magnitudes (in reference to amounts) ...is it clear here that greater than is preferred in that regard? I don't know...

What do others think?

Edit: I did this question a second time and I concluded that it's not a very good question.

"has" is singular and then later in the sentence you get "their" ...you choose one or the other you can't have both.

Others have said "their" refers to assets...but that renders the sentence illogical. "Assets" don't have problems, but families do.
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The Watsons, a prominent Staten Island family, has survived a close br 29 Apr 2021, 19:45
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arnab2312
In this question what does the "their" in the end part (non underlined portion) refer to, if "Watsons" as a family is to be taken in a singular manner. Isn't their a conflict in number here. So with Option "A" the whole sentence becomes :


Its assets ...... commencement of their Problem .
Show more

It's a nonsensical question. I would ignore.
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