Recent evaluation by fire-safety officials of people's reactions in a

Question

Recent evaluation by fire-safety officials of people's reactions in a wide variety of  fires confirm  that altruism is a far more common response than panic.

a. fires confirm
b. fires comfirms
c. fire confirms
d. fire is confirmation
e. fires are confirmation

Source: topgmat

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

Fire is not a countable object here, so Fires Can't be used here eliminating option A , B and E
Since Fire is not the confirmation mentioned or discussed in the passage, Using "Fire is confirmation" is vauge.
Hence C is the best option.

darciusal · Answer

why is fire not countable here?
I think it refers to fire disaters

akash96 · Answer

GMATNinja  would you agree fire being uncountable here? We often here California being ravaged by fires #GMATNinja

richirish · Answer

My vote is with B, C is awkward, "fires" is acceptable usage.

aloysiusgaul · Answer

Answer C is not correct; answer B is correct. We know that evaluation is singular, so the second word must be confirms. So then the question is whether it should be “fire” or “fires”. It should be “fires,” as fire is a countable noun in this instance.

Since we are talking about a variety, this necessitates a multiple of fires. It may be different fire disasters, different types of fire, or simply different fire demonstrations as part of a study. Notice how in the previous sentence, I used “fire” to describe a variety, which in each case fire was merely an adjective describing “disasters” or “types”. In every case, we need to use a plural. You can have a single variety of fire or a wide variety of fires, but you cannot have a wide variety of fire because you cannot have a variety of an uncountable thing. (Variety means many types, meaning you have to be able to identify at least two...which is counting.)

Just to be clear: fire is countable. Please see the definition of the word and which meanings are countable and which ones are not. In this case, the meaning of fire is clearly countable (see number 3)

fire (countable and uncountable, plural fires)

1. (uncountable) A (usually self-sustaining) chemical reaction involving the bonding of oxygen with carbon or other fuel, with the production of heat and the presence of flame or smouldering.
2. (countable) An instance of this chemical reaction, especially when intentionally created and maintained in a specific location to a useful end (such as a campfire or a hearth fire). quotations ▼
We sat about the fire singing songs and telling tales.
3. (countable) The occurrence, often accidental, of fire in a certain place, causing damage and danger. quotations ▼

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ArupRS · Answer

Fire is correct. Fires not correct. Plural form is not possible for uncountable noun.

Subject : recent evaluation.
Hence singular verb : confirms.

So C

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abhik1502 · Answer

will you pls suggest why it is fire and not fires.

when we talk about a variety then what comes after preposition "of" should define the group. 
something like when we say 
 the best singer among  the participants  ________.

ayushgmatclub1 · Answer

IMO C is the correct answer. Whenever we say “variety of” something, we actually write singlular nouns.

For eg - i have bought a variety of PEN

A singular thing can have different varieties.

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gward · Answer

Choice B appears, to me, to be the correct choice.

“A wide variety of fire” seems to reference a fire that is uncharacteristically wide, and that doesn’t make sense.

The word “variety”, in this case, is similar in meaning to the word “assortment”. The sentence isn’t referencing a particular kind of fire that happens to be wide. It’s describing a survey that polled peoples’ reactions to an assortment of fires. For example:

“I went to the market today and bought a huge variety of fruits and vegetables.”

“At the market, an eclectic farmer had an unusual variety of turnip.”

The word “fire”, as used in this example, should be countable.

“Of the 200 homes in this neighborhood, 7 were wired by the same terrible electrician. Because of this, these 7 homes burned down, between 2 and 5 years after construction ended, in separate house fires.”

In the above example, one wouldn’t say “...in separate house fire”.

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AnushkaSingh16 · Answer

Why is it "fire" and not "fires" , why is answer choice B incorrect

sd1713 · Answer

I agree that fires should be countable here and the answer really seems like it should be B, not C. You can have a "variety of fires"

ravigupta2912 · Answer

Need an expert response to this post. I am terribly confused between countable and not countable here.

GMATNinja   daagh   VeritasKarishma   mikemcgarry

KarishmaB · Answer

Fire is countable when we talk about multiple instances of it.

Evaluation of ... people's reactions in a wide variety of fires...

- should be acceptable because we are talking about reactions to multiple instances of fire (which will give multiple varieties). One instance of fire will give only one variety. But people's reactions ere evaluated in multiple instances.

Request the OP to share the OE to find out what the question setter had in mind.

Recent evaluation by fire-safety officials of people's reactions in a

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Recent evaluation by fire-safety officials of people's reactions in a

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