The administration has increased the number of fines for

Question

The administration  has increased the number of fines for mining safety violations as part of their campaign to protect miners.

has increased the number of fines for mining safety violations as part of their

have increased the number of fines for mining safety violations as part of their

has increased the number of fines for mining safety violations as part of its

has increased the amount of fines for mining safety violations as part of its

have increased the amount of fines for mining safety violations as part of their

piyatiwari · Answer

Why is D incorrect?

I'm confused between "amount of fines" and "number of fines"

Does the sentence indicate, number of restrictions? or cost of fines?

omnikey · Answer

I think it's because "amount of" should be used with uncountable nouns.
In addition, I found this statement on the https://www.thefreedictionary.com
"Usage: The use of a plural noun after amount of (an amount of bananas; the amount of refugees) should be avoided: a quantity of bananas; the number of refugees"

cvsmech · Answer

D seems logically correct to me.

Not sure why the answer is C.

GMATPASSION · Answer

B, E out. SV agreement. Administration -----> Has A, out --> "their" incorrectly refers to singular administration. Between C & D, D is logical. :-D

GMATPASSION · Answer

I completely Agree with you. Infact D seems to be the only logical answer to me now. HOW...... Read Below:

How can administration protect the miners? By increasing number of fines or increasing the amount of fines.

How can they increase the no. of fines.No of fines depend on how many times safety violation is done by miners. Administration can only increase the amount of fine.

That sounds perfectly logical to me. Am i missing something.

gautammalik · Answer

It's a simple problem that tests two concepts - 
1. collective nouns are singular (so use 'has' and 'its')
2. use 'number of' instead of 'amount of' when the items are countable.

Answer should be C

gautammalik · Answer

'Number of fines' means if there were 3 different fines earlier (say fine1, fine2, fine3), now there are 4 or more.

GMATPASSION · Answer

<img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt=":wink:" title="Wink" />

chawlavinu · Answer

For SC, stick to the splits and the rules. When in doubt, don't rewrite the sentence to your liking, but pick the least risky choice:

(1) Split between "the number of" and "the amount of"--> this screams countable (number) vs. uncountable (amount) 
(2) All choices have the same object of the preposition: "fines"--> Is this countable or uncountable? 
(3) Can fines be countable? 1 fine, 2 fines, 3 fines, etc. Yes, even if that is not how you would say it.

Hope this helps. Cheers!!

GMATPASSION · Answer

Thanks. This was a crisp Explanation. :-D

ruturaj · Answer

Oa is C or D?

fluke · Answer

Please click on the "Reveal" link in the main post to see the OA.

OA is C for this one.

The administration has increased the number of fines for

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