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skim
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 08 Dec 2009, 01:30
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Dear All,

(A) Which of these sentences are correct?
"The pair of birds was united" or "The pair of birds were united"


(B) Can I confirm that this sentence is correct?
"One of the apples is rotten"


(C) Page 49 of Manhattan Sentence Correction 3rd ed, Guide 8 states that if many individual parts of the totality is indicated, then a plural verb is used. If the totality itself is indicated, then a singular verb form is used. How does this reconcile with the 12th edition of the Official Guide at page 651, wherein the correct sentence at the bottom states "The masses have spoken". Does it mean that "the masses" is used to indicate the many individual parts of the totality?


Thank you.



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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 08 Dec 2009, 10:18
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skim
Dear All,

(A) Which of these sentences are correct?
"The pair of birds was united" or "The pair of birds were united"


(B) Can I confirm that this sentence is correct?
"One of the apples is rotten"


(C) Page 49 of Manhattan Sentence Correction 3rd ed, Guide 8 states that if many individual parts of the totality is indicated, then a plural verb is used. If the totality itself is indicated, then a singular verb form is used. How does this reconcile with the 12th edition of the Official Guide at page 651, wherein the correct sentence at the bottom states "The masses have spoken". Does it mean that "the masses" is used to indicate the many individual parts of the totality?


Thank you.
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One thing to keep in mind is that subject will not appear in a prepositional phrase
a: prepositional phrase - of birds
b: prepositional phrase - of the apples

a: The pair was united
b: One is rotten
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 08 Dec 2009, 23:47
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masses is a plural noun and not singular. You can refer to the link below
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/masses
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skim
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 09 Dec 2009, 01:18
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Thanks. What about this sentence?

The discovery of new medicines (was/were) vital to the company's growth.
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 09 Dec 2009, 04:19
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skim
Thanks. What about this sentence?

The discovery of new medicines (was/were) vital to the company's growth.
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"discovery" is a singular noun. Hence "The discovery of new medicines was vital to the company's growth" should be correct
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 09 Dec 2009, 05:33
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lagomez had a great way of looking at these kinds of sentences and it applies to this one as well:

"The discovery of new medicines (was/were) vital to the company's growth."

Just remove the prepositional phrase and it should be a lot clearer:

"The discovery (was/were) vital to the company's growth."

The discovery (was) is correct.
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 25 Dec 2010, 10:09
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Thanks, it's actually not so hard, you just need to ged rig of all the crap between :)
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 25 Dec 2010, 10:24
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skim
Dear All,

(A) Which of these sentences are correct?
"The pair of birds was united" or "The pair of birds were united"


(B) Can I confirm that this sentence is correct?
"One of the apples is rotten"


(C) Page 49 of Manhattan Sentence Correction 3rd ed, Guide 8 states that if many individual parts of the totality is indicated, then a plural verb is used. If the totality itself is indicated, then a singular verb form is used. How does this reconcile with the 12th edition of the Official Guide at page 651, wherein the correct sentence at the bottom states "The masses have spoken". Does it mean that "the masses" is used to indicate the many individual parts of the totality?


Thank you.
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The pair of birds was united. (e.g. Can I have a pair of socks? 'a' makes pair singular)

One of apples is rotten- correct.
Masses is plural.

Correct me if I'm wrong.
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Dear All, (A) Which of these sentences are correct? 27 May 2011, 01:35
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hey skim what happened to ur GMAT score ???



Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
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