Part of the proposed increase in state education spending is due to higher enrollment
, since the number of students in public schools have grown steadily since the mid-1980’s and, at nearly 47 million, are at a record high.
(A) enrollment, since the number of students in public schools have grown steadily since the mid-1980’s and, at nearly 47 million, are at
(B) enrollment, with a number of students in public schools growing steadily since the mid-1980’s and, at nearly 47 million, reaching
(C) enrollment: since students in public schools have grown steadily in number since the mid-1980’s and, at nearly 47 million, have reached
(D) enrollment: the number of students in public schools has grown steadily since the mid-1980’s and, at nearly 47 million, has reached
(E) enrollment: students in public schools have grown steadily in number, since the mid-1980’s and, at nearly 47 million, are at
Here's my take on the question (fixed the typo in D.)
First, from the original sentence there are
two mistakes with SVA.
1. THE NUMBER of [...] HAVE grown (the number here refers to a specific number, thus it must be singular. The verb does not agree)
2. THE NUMBER of [...] ARE at (same reason with 1.)
From the question analysis we can eliminate A. From then on we look at the remaining choices.
B) sounds very awkward, so let's eliminate it.
We're left with C, D, and E that uses the colon to explain the first part of the sentence. Since the colon is introduce, it is not necessary to use the words such as 'since'. Additionally, C and E changed the meaning of the sentence by constructing it as along the lines of 'students are growing in number'. To me that sounds very weird. It makes sense more to actively say a/the number are/is growing.
Therefore, we can quickly eliminate C and E.
The answer choice through the process of elimination is D. D resolves the issue of SVA and does not have unnecessary words or awkward construction.