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Bunuel
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The ongoing debate as to whether Pluto and its satellite, Charon, comp 06 Aug 2021, 02:30
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A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

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65% (hard)

Question Stats:

53% (02:03) correct 47% (01:49) wrong based on 131 sessions

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The ongoing debate as to whether Pluto and its satellite, Charon, comprise a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie outside of Pluto.


(A) comprise a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie

(B) comprises a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie

(C) are a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon were settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass are

(D) comprise a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lies

(E) are a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled and led to the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie
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The ongoing debate as to whether Pluto and its satellite, Charon, comp 06 Aug 2021, 02:59
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A should be the answer.

SV Pairs
a. The ongoing debate...was settled(singular and singular)
b. Pluto and its satellite....comprise (Plural and Plural)
C. System's Center....AND Significant Portion.....lie (plural and Plural)

B has error - "Comprises" used for Subject Pluto and its satellite
C has Error - Were used for subject the ongoing debate
D has error - LIES at the end of the sentence
E. Meaning Error - "and led to the discovery that"...what led to the discovery? Debate? Certainly not :)

I elected C Initially but answer should be A.
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The ongoing debate as to whether Pluto and its satellite, Charon, comp 06 Aug 2021, 03:41
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Comprise is correct..
Lie will be correct ..


A will be the answer

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The ongoing debate as to whether Pluto and its satellite, Charon, comp 08 Aug 2021, 02:30
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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



The ongoing debate as to whether Pluto and its satellite, Charon, comprise a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie outside of Pluto.


(A) comprise a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie

This answer choice correctly matches the following subjects and verbs in its various sub-clauses:

1 - the singular subject ongoing debate is correctly matched with the singular verb was (settled);

2 - the plural subject Pluto and its satellite, Charon with is correctly matched with the plural verb comprise;

3 - the plural subject the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass is correctly matched with the plural verb lie (outside of Pluto).

Note the sentence's main clause is no. 1: The ongoing debate...was settled. Clause no. 2 is nested within the main clause.


(B) comprises a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The plural subject Pluto and its satellite, Charon does not agree with the singular verb comprises.

What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question and detect this mistake is the following Stop Sign: A plural subject made up of singular nouns connected by and

Note:

This sentence has a complex structure, and includes more than one sub-clause - make sure that you match the subject with the appropriate verb, within the same clause. For each verb in the sentence, ask - who is the 'doer' of this action? for example, who 'comprise/s' - is it Charon? is it something else? The 'doer' of the action is the subject of the clause, and must agree with the verb.



(C) are a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon were settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass are

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The singular subject The ongoing debate does not agree with the plural verb were.

What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question and detect this mistake is the following Stop Sign: A long complex subject / long distance between subject and verb

Note:

This sentence has a complex structure, and includes more than one sub-clause - make sure that you match the subject with the appropriate verb, within the same clause. For each verb in the sentence, ask - who is the 'doer' of this action? for example, who 'comprise/s' - is it Charon? is it something else? The 'doer' of the action is the subject of the clause, and must agree with the verb.

Note that the change of wording (comprise -> are; lie -> are) does not affect the correctness of this answer choice. Not every change of wording is also a change of meaning.


(D) comprise a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled following the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lies

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The plural subject the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass does not agree with the singular verb lies.

What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question and detect this mistake is the following Stop Sign: A plural subject made up of singular nouns connected by and


(E) are a double dwarf planet system or a planet and its moon was settled and led to the discovery that the system's center of mass and a significant portion of its mass lie

Incorrect.

Although this answer choice is grammatically correct, it is illogical and radically changes the meaning of the original sentence by replacing the word following with the words and led to. The new meaning damages the original sentence's logic - because it is far more logical to say that the debate was settled based on the discovery that the mass are outside of Pluto (i.e., based on evidence), than to say that the debate led to this discovery.
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