Many companies in the pollution-control industry, which until a few ye

Question

Many companies in the pollution-control industry, which  until a few years ago has prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls, has  recently experienced sharp drops in sales and profits.

A. until a few years ago has prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls, has

B. up until a few years ago, when prospering on account of a national concern for environmental controls, have

C. until a few years ago was prospering because of a national concern for environmental controls, have

D. up until a few years ago have prospered because of a national concern for environmental controls, has

E. until a few years ago had prospered because of a national concern for environmental controls, has

hinkin · Accepted Answer

3. Many  companies  in the pollution control  industry ,  which  until a few years ago  has  prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls,  has  recently experienced sharp drops in sales and profits.

a. until a few years ago has prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls,  has   {need plural for companies}

b. up until a few years ago,  when    {When is used in reference to a specific time not a period} prospering on account of a national concern for environmental controls, have

c. until a few yeas ago  was {correct use of was}  propsering because of a national concern for environmental controls, have {Correct use of have} 
d. up until a few yeards ago have prospered because of a national concern for environmental control, has   {need plural for companies}

e. until a few years ago had prospered because of a national concern for environmental controls,  has   {need plural for companies}

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u0422811 · Answer

C for me.

Here is my logic.

First there is a SVA issue. Companies in the pollution control industry....have recently experienced.. So it needs to be have instead of has - this eliminates A, D, and E.

We read choice b and see that when prospering is incorrect - should be was prospering to be in SVA with the sentence. So that leaves us with only C.

Hope that helps.

fivedaysleft · Answer

The first logic is correct ie the options will end with 'have'.
But for SVA shouldnt it be 'many companies...were prospering...'? IMO the option doesnt match up.
Am I right? 
Also, where is this question from?

Posted from my mobile device

Bibli · Answer

Hope that helps. 
The first logic is correct ie the options will end with 'have'.
But for SVA shouldnt it be 'many companies...were prospering...'? IMO the option doesnt match up.
Am I right? 
Also, where is this question from?

Posted from my mobile device

This is where i also got confused. Seems like the 'were prospering' modifier is for the industry. It wasn't intuitive or explicit.

I got these questions from the Jamboree question bank

u0422811 · Answer

Which makes the remainder of "until a few years ago...." refer to the industry not the companies. So it should be the industry was prospering not the industry were prospering.

Make sense?

calreg11 · Answer

Subject-verb agreement 
and thank you hinkin 
when {When is used in reference to a specific time not a period}

daagh · Answer

IMO, this is not a valid example . It is just not about SVA alone but there is also an element of comparison in it. In the original, we are comparing performance of the industry until few year’s ago with the performance of the companies recently. This shift of object is illogical. Per se, logically speaking, the companies, the subject of the clause, do two functions; first, they did well earlier and then have not not so well recently. If we mean to describe the industry’s profits, thenwe can straight away start with the industry, dropping the reference to the company’s altogether.

IMO, this is a faulty topic and no choice is tenable

IMO, this is a faulty topic and no choice is tenable

catty2004 · Answer

Many companies in the pollution control industry, which until a few years ago has prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls, has recently experienced sharp drops in sales and profits.

plural subj needs plural verb

the modifier is more clear here

plural subj needs plural verb

the modifier is more clear here

ts2014 · Answer

hi bibli, what is the source of this qn?

darthvader2204 · Answer

Many companies in the pollution control industry, which until a few years ago has prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls, has recently experienced sharp drops in sales and profits.

plural subj needs plural verb

the modifier is more clear here

In above the c answers the question correctly. SVA issue leaves us with just B and C. Out of the two C is correct since the was refers to singular Pollution Control industry and have correctly refers back to Many Companies.

sdas · Answer

Answer C

Choice A - SVA error
Choice B - Up until incorrect usage
Choice C - Correct usage of both verbs
Choice D - Up until incorrect usage
Choice E - incorrect verb

asg7889 · Answer

the 'which' takes the immediate preceeding noun i.e. 'control industry' -> hence 'was' is correct

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Here's the   official explanation   provided by the GMAC for this question:

According to the sentence, the pollution-control industry prospered until a few years ago, because of a national concern for environmental controls. Recently, however, many companies in the industry have suffered a sharp decline in sales and profits. The version given is not correct; for one thing, the verb phrase  has recently experienced  is singular, whereas its subject,  many companies , is plural. Also, the verb-form  has prospered  normally indicates a past action extending into the present or recent past, not applicable here.
 
 Option A:  This answer choice is incorrect, for the reasons explained. The preposition  on account of  has  because of  as one of its meanings.

Option B:  The word  up  is unnecessary and informal. Overall, this version is incoherent because it implies that the companies experienced reduced sales and profits when prospering. Moreover, this version consists only of a noun phrase  many companies … industry  following by a relative clause modifying that phrase, together with an embedded adverbial clause  when … controls.  In other words, this is not a proper sentence because it has no independent clause.

Option C:  Correct.The past-continuous verb form  was prospering  is appropriate here. The present-perfect plural verb form  have … experienced  agrees with the plural subject  companies  and is appropriate for describing a recent experience that may be continuing into the present. The use of  because of  introduces a description of a cause .

Option D:  The word  up  is unnecessary and informal. Because of the plural verb  have  in the relative clause  which … controls,  the clause applies to  many companies  rather than to  the pollution-control industry.  The singular verb  has  should also be plural to agree with the same subject.

Option E:  The singular verb  has  is incorrect because its subject  many companies  is plural.
 
The correct answer is C.

Please note that I'm not the author of this explanation. I'm just posting it here since I believe it can help the community.

100mitra · Answer

Correct option C

Original Sentence 
 Many companies  in the pollution-control industry, which 
 until a few years ago has prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls, has  
recently experienced sharp drops in sales and profits.

B.  up until  a few years ago,  when prospering  on account of a national concern for environmental controls, have
 Error:  
- Redudancy "Up untill" & "when Prospering" both indicate "Growing"
- Idiom placement Error "on account of", it should reflect reason for prospering

C. until a few years ago  was prospering   because of  a national concern for environmental controls,  have   - Correct

Eliminate A, D and E  - SV Agreement Error
A. until a few years ago has prospered on account of a national concern for environmental controls,  has 
D. up until a few years ago have prospered because of a national concern for environmental controls,  has 
E. until a few years ago had prospered because of a national concern for environmental controls,  has

VerbalBot · Answer

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Many companies in the pollution-control industry, which until a few ye

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Many companies in the pollution-control industry, which until a few ye

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