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Hi iac00

Quote:
How can the electorate be plurar? It's a singular noun? C can't be the answer? Please explain

electorate: Meaning
1) treated as singular or plural. All the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election.

For e.g. 75 per cent of the electorate voted for a Scottish parliament in some form’

2) NZ Australian The area represented by one Member of Parliament.

3) historical The office or territories of a German elector.

From the meaning perspective,if you see, electorate can refer to the number of people eliglible to vote in an area or the people themselves.


Quote:
C. where 37 percent of the electorate are functionally illiterate


Now if you in the option C , if you replace the verb 'are' with 'is' and 'electrorate' with 'people' .

where 37 percent of the people is functionally illiterate

The sentence won't make sense. Refering people with singular verb 'is' is incorrect.


Hope it helps !!!!
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Jim Smyth may be a charismatic speaker, but it seems to be counterproductive to have a high school dropout as mayor in a town where illiteracy functionally affects 37 percent of the electorate.

A. where illiteracy functionally affects 37 percent of the electorate
B. in which functionally the electorate is 37 percent illiterate
C. where 37 percent of the electorate are functionally illiterate
D. which has 37 percent of the electorate functionally illiterate
E. where, of the electorate, 37 percent of them functionally are illiterate

Source: McGraw-Hill's GMAT
Difficulty Level: 650

I have a doubt. Can't D be right? Sounds logical. Town is a noun, which has 37%..
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SajjadAhmad
Jim Smyth may be a charismatic speaker, but it seems to be counterproductive to have a high school dropout as mayor in a town where illiteracy functionally affects 37 percent of the electorate.

A. where illiteracy functionally affects 37 percent of the electorate
B. in which functionally the electorate is 37 percent illiterate
C. where 37 percent of the electorate are functionally illiterate
D. which has 37 percent of the electorate functionally illiterate
E. where, of the electorate, 37 percent of them functionally are illiterate

Source: McGraw-Hill's GMAT
Difficulty Level: 650

I have a doubt. Can't D be right? Sounds logical. Town is a noun, which has 37%..

Hi OhsostudiousMJ,

Since Town is a physical place it should only be referred by ‘Where’ . Similar logic goes with time , if some time or timeperiod needs to be modified ‘When’ should be used.

Hope it helps !!

Posted from my mobile device
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SajjadAhmad
Jim Smyth may be a charismatic speaker, but it seems to be counterproductive to have a high school dropout as mayor in a town where illiteracy functionally affects 37 percent of the electorate.

A. where illiteracy functionally affects 37 percent of the electorate
B. in which functionally the electorate is 37 percent illiterate
C. where 37 percent of the electorate are functionally illiterate
D. which has 37 percent of the electorate functionally illiterate
E. where, of the electorate, 37 percent of them functionally are illiterate

Source: McGraw-Hill's GMAT
Difficulty Level: 650

I have a doubt. Can't D be right? Sounds logical. Town is a noun, which has 37%..

Hi OhsostudiousMJ,

Since Town is a physical place it should only be referred by ‘Where’ . Similar logic goes with time , if some time or timeperiod needs to be modified ‘When’ should be used.

Hope it helps !!

Posted from my mobile device

Okay, thanks!
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Hi iac00

Quote:
How can the electorate be plurar? It's a singular noun? C can't be the answer? Please explain

electorate: Meaning
1) treated as singular or plural. All the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election.

For e.g. 75 per cent of the electorate voted for a Scottish parliament in some form’

2) NZ Australian The area represented by one Member of Parliament.

3) historical The office or territories of a German elector.

From the meaning perspective,if you see, electorate can refer to the number of people eliglible to vote in an area or the people themselves.


Quote:
C. where 37 percent of the electorate are functionally illiterate


Now if you in the option C , if you replace the verb 'are' with 'is' and 'electrorate' with 'people' .

where 37 percent of the people is functionally illiterate

The sentence won't make sense. Refering people with singular verb 'is' is incorrect.


Hope it helps !!!!


Hmmm... that's kind of a stretch in my opinion, i guess i'll just have to just learn the rule and accept it. Thanks!
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Since Town is a physical place it should only be referred by ‘Where’ . Similar logic goes with time , if some time or timeperiod needs to be modified ‘When’ should be used.
My reply is not about this question, but about the usage of where. You're right in the sense that where is very often used to refer to a place, but we need to be careful not to say that we cannot refer to places using anything other than a where.

1. Where used to refer to a place:

... Shanghai, where... ← This is fine.
... the first aeroplane, where... ← This is wrong.

2. Where or something other than where used to refer to a place:

... Shanghai, where... ← This is fine.
... Shanghai, which... ← This is fine.
... Shanghai, in which... ← This is fine.
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Quote:
My reply is not about this question, but about the usage of where. You're right in the sense that where is very often used to refer to a place, but we need to be careful not to say that we cannot refer to places using anything other than a where.

1. Where used to refer to a place:

... Shanghai, where... ← This is fine.
... the first aeroplane, where... ← This is wrong.

2. Where or something other than where used to refer to a place:

... Shanghai, where... ← This is fine.
... Shanghai, which... ← This is fine.
... Shanghai, in which... ← This is fine.

Thanks for the explaination AjiteshArun . Can you post some links/OG questions to illustrate the usage of 'which'
when 'which' is used to modify a physical place.
My undertanding was when its a physical place use 'Where' and when its a abstract place such as dreams use 'in which'.

This video might help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoVdBZ3Ombo

Hope it helps!
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MofeBhatia
Thanks for the explaination AjiteshArun . Can you post some links/OG questions to illustrate the usage of 'which'
when 'which' is used to modify a physical place.
My undertanding was when its a physical place use 'Where' and when its a abstract place such as dreams use 'in which'.

This video might help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoVdBZ3Ombo

Hope it helps!
Hi MofeBhatia,

I'm not sure what YouTube is telling you, but I can assure you that there is no such restriction on the usage of where, or on the usage of which. Again, where is usually used for places, but for places we are not restricted to where. It is the second part of that statement that you need a little assistance with, and I'd advise you to go through my first post again.

If you want an official question that uses a relative pronoun to modify a place, here you go.

Where is a relative adverb. Just the fact that it can be used around places cannot stop the basic relative pronouns from being used to refer to places.
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MofeBhatia
Since Town is a physical place it should only be referred by ‘Where’ . Similar logic goes with time , if some time or timeperiod needs to be modified ‘When’ should be used.
My reply is not about this question, but about the usage of where. You're right in the sense that where is very often used to refer to a place, but we need to be careful not to say that we cannot refer to places using anything other than a where.

1. Where used to refer to a place:

... Shanghai, where... ← This is fine.
... the first aeroplane, where... ← This is wrong.

2. Where or something other than where used to refer to a place:

... Shanghai, where... ← This is fine.
... Shanghai, which... ← This is fine.
... Shanghai, in which... ← This is fine.

Hi,
If that's the case, then D should also be right, isn't it?
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Hi,
If that's the case, then D should also be right, isn't it?
Option D has other issues:

1. Which is used without a comma before it: this is not a reliable way to take D out (at all), but this which is still a little unexpected, as normally that is the one that is used without a comma. In other words, between a town that and a town which, we'd probably want to go with a town that.

2. The phrase electorate functionally illiterate is not something we'd expect to see on the GMAT.
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Hmmm... that's kind of a stretch in my opinion, i guess i'll just have to just learn the rule and accept it. Thanks!
For what it's worth, I don't think the GMAT would make you take a call on whether electorate is singular or plural.
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can any one suggest why A is wrong ?
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AnujL
can any one suggest why A is wrong ?

Explanation

Option A, has a slight issue with word order. The phrase "illiteracy functionally affects" suggests that illiteracy is actively impacting the electorate, rather than stating that a certain percentage of the electorate is illiterate.

Option B, has an awkward structure. The phrase "functionally the electorate is 37 percent illiterate" does not flow naturally and lacks clarity.

Option C, provides a clear and concise statement. It states that a specific percentage of the electorate (37 percent) is functionally illiterate, which aligns with the intended meaning of the sentence.

Option D, introduces a change in meaning. It suggests that the town itself has the electorate functionally illiterate, rather than specifying that a percentage of the electorate is illiterate.

Option E, includes redundant phrasing and lacks conciseness. The use of "of the electorate" and "of them" is unnecessary and clutters the sentence.

In conclusion, option C is the correct choice because it effectively conveys the intended meaning in a clear and grammatically correct manner.

Answer: C
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