One of the most important questions facing the American public in the

Question

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One of the most important questions facing the American public in the wake of the global energy crisis  is if they can make the transition  to hybrid cars to lessen the dependence on foreign oil.

A) is if they can make the transition

B) are if they can make the transition

C) is whether they can make the transition

D) are whether it can make the transition

E) is whether it can make the transition

generis · Accepted Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION Project SC Butler: Sentence Correction (SC1) THE PROMPT • one of the most important questions is the subject of the clause → some people will say that one is the subject. Long story. Linguistics battle. (I would say that the subject is "one.") → either way, that subject is singular. Similar and easier to remember: One of the questions IS difficult.

One of the questions ARE difficult.

• facing the American public in the wake of the global energy crisis is a long adjective phrase that modifies questions and that is derived from a relative clause. (From one of the questions that faces → → one of the questions facing .) → In other words, notice that the subject is sort of hidden behind a "participle"(verbING) phrase. • PUBLIC is a collective noun and is singular. Speakers of British English, please be careful. In B.E., collective nouns are almost always plural. In U.S. English and on the GMAT, collective nouns are singular 99 percent of the time. There are two major exceptions: people and police . Oh, wait, a third: also plural are names of sports teams (which I have never seen tested). You will see many posts in which we have qualified this "collective noun" assertion; we say that the collective noun is singular when it acts as unit and plural when its members act individually. I do not recall having seen an official question in which the members of a collective noun acted individually and thus required a plural verb. Except for police and people, collective nouns are singular. • IF vs. WHETHER → use IF only to describe a conditional or to speculate about something hypothetical → use whether to choose between alternatives, keeping in mind that whether often means whether or not If the sentence is not a conditional or hypothetical, use whether . THE OPTIONS • THEY should be IT the singular noun public requires the singular pronoun it , not they • IF should be WHETHER → Correct : One of the most important questions is whether or not ] Americans can adapt to electric cars. → or not is implied and conveys the "alternative" or "other" viewpoint → IF should signal a condition or a hypothetical and does not do so here. ELIMINATE A • are should be is → the singular subject one of the most important questions takes the singular verb is, not are • THEY should be IT → the singular noun public takes the singular pronoun it, not they • IF should be WHETHER (same problem as that in option A) ELIMINATE B • THEY should be IT → the singular noun public takes the singular pronoun it, not they ELIMINATE C • ARE should be IS → The singular subject one of the most important questions requires the singular verb IS, not ARE ELIMINATE D • All the errors have been corrected → Correct: One of the most important questions . . . IS whether XYZ can happen. → Correct: The big question is whether the singular! ] American public can adapt to hybrid cars. → Correct: One of the most important questions is whether can adapt to hybrid cars. The best answer is E COMMENTS I'll be brief, because TBH, my eyes are shot. Whoops. Vernacular. Let me try again. My eyes are tired and blurry. The other OE for today will have to wait for a few hours. I read the answers hours ago, though -- the reasoning is good even if a couple of you relied on the wrong assumption. This question requires attention to detail; it/they, for example, is tested against two different antecedents. Nice work.

Anuragsharma93 · Answer

Awesome Question thanks Generis--- Tested my singular plural Knowledge 
Key concept - Collectives are Singular 
 IMO - E

Q - One of the most important questions facing the American public in the wake of the global energy crisis is if they can make the transition to hybrid cars to lessen the dependence on foreign oil.

Now the question is taking about two things - 
1. One of the most Important questions --- This would require a Singular verb ie. Is -- Hence eliminate the options with "are" at the start - B & D Gone . Left with A, C & E... Lets move ahead 
 
2. the American public / Public in general is a collective noun and we all know Collectives are Singular and hence we need  it   not   they

Hence eliminate A and C and the answer is E

petrichor · Answer

One of the most important questions ... is - B and D are out.

In GMAT, 'If' should be used only for conditionals. A is out.

Now, the choice is between singular and plural - american public is or are.

In this context, I believe the sentence is talking about the individual transitions in the group. So plural,  C is correct  IMO.

DinoPen · Answer

One of the most important questions facing the American public in the wake of the global energy crisis  is if they can make the transition  to hybrid cars to lessen the dependence on foreign oil.

Always a tricky one with SV agreement on collective nouns etc. In this case, I believe that 'One' is singular (since one is not a collective noun) Hence, B and D are out.

'They' refers to the 'American Public'. 'The American Public' is singular. Take out A and C.

IMO E.

A) is if they can make the transition

B) are if they can make the transition

C) is whether they can make the transition

D) are whether it can make the transition

E) is whether it can make the transition

winterschool · Answer

One of the most important questions facing the American public in the wake of the global energy crisis is if they can make the transition to hybrid cars to lessen the dependence on foreign oil.

A) is  if  they can make the transition  Incorrect

if uses wrong, there is no condition, just a question

B)  are if  they can make the transition  Incorrect

SV error - one is singular, are is plural

C)  is whether they can make the transition   Correct

D)  are  whether  it  can make the transition  Incorrect

SV error - one is singular, are is plural
pronoun ambiguity - it refers what? a question cant make the transition

E) is whether  it  can make the transition  Incorrect

pronoun ambiguity - it refers what? a question cant make the transition

generis · Answer

The official explanation is  here .

VerbalBot · Answer

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One of the most important questions facing the American public in the

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