The growing demand for housing, traffic congestion, and longer commuti

Question

The growing demand for housing, traffic congestion, and longer commuting trips has  all but eliminated the cost advantage of owning a house in many rural communities.

(A) The growing demand for housing, traffic congestion, and longer commuting trips has

(B) Traffic congestion, the growing demand for housing, and longer commuting trips has

(C) Longer commuting trips, traffic congestion, and the growing demand for housing has

(D) Traffic congestion, longer commuting trips, and the growing demand for housing have

(E) The growing demand for housing, as well as traffic congestion and longer commuting trips, have

daagh · Accepted Answer

One can understand a growing demand for housing, but one cannot appreciate a growing demand for traffic congestion and long commuting trips. Nesting them together as part of one list is illogical. That is the reason the singular verb ‘has’ is out of place. The plural verb ‘have’ denotes there are more than one factor. Therefore, we are left with D and E. 
Between D and E, E is grammatically wrong for using 'as well as' to conjugate both factors and still use ‘have’ as the verb. ‘As well as’ will not render the subject plural. 
Therefore, D is the best.

EducationAisle · Answer

Indeed and one should notice that there actually is no  Subject-verb agreement  issue in A. In fact, the singular verb  has  is just perfect, since the subject is  the growing demand . Note that  housing, traffic congestion, and longer commuting trips  cannot be the subject in A, because they appear as part of  prepositional phrase  ( for housing, traffic congestion, and longer commuting trips ). Words in  prepositional phrases  cannot be the subjects in their respective clauses.

As daagh rightly pointed out, the issue is that the structure of A is: The growing demand for X, Y and Z where X = housing, Y = traffic congestion, and Z = longer commuting trips. So, A nonsensically suggests that the growing demand is for  three  things:
i) housing
ii) traffic congestion, and 
iii) longer commuting trips

A good question illustrating how important, meaning is to SC. Wonder what’s the source of this question.

batliwala · Answer

the subject is plural as we are talking about 3 things "yoddy...yoddy,and yoddy", hence we have to use plural verb "have"

OA is D.

Sauji · Answer

option e is wrong because we are talking about 3 things here: the growing demand for housing,traffic congestion and longer commuting trips and as well as is used only for 2 things.

hsbinfy · Answer

ABC are wrong because of S-V agreement

down to D and E

E is wrong because it dictates a singular subject.

a subject along with "as well as" implies singular , so it should had been 'has'

D has three subjects ,so plural verb 'have'or by POE it closes down to D only.

-h

Anestists · Answer

My questions is : Why (E) is wrong? Can we always say that as well as is used for two things and not for more ? Is that a suitable explanation in our case?

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  Anestists , E uses the additive  as well as . The rule is:

When the subject is separated from the verb by expressions such as  along with, together with, as well as, in addition to, besides  etc.,  ignore  these expressions to determine whether the subject is singular or plural.

So, in E, the subject is  growing demand  (singular) and hence, the  plural  verb  have  is  incorrect .

E also has a comparison ambiguity issue, since E can be interpreted as:

The growing demand for housing, as well as ( for ) traffic congestion and longer commuting trips, have all but eliminated the cost advantage of owning a house in many rural communities .

p.s. Our book    EducationAisle Sentence Correction Nirvana    discusses  these issues with  Subject Verb agreement  , its application and examples in significant detail. If someone is interested, PM me your email-id; I can mail the corresponding section.

manishk30 · Answer

But don't you think a preposition 'for' is required before Traffic Congestion in option E to make is parallel. 
The growing demand for housing, as well as  for  traffic congestion
'Have' is used coz the growing demand..... and longer commuting trips

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi Manish, responding on behalf of daagh sir.

The way you've articulated the sentence would convey that there is a  growing demand  for traffic congestion.

That is  not  the intended meaning of the sentence (who would  demand  traffic congestion?).

manishk30 · Answer

Ohh. I did not notice that part in this option. You are right. Thanks

hiranmay · Answer

The growing demand for housing, traffic congestion,
and longer commuting trips has  all but eliminated 
the cost advantage of owning a house in many rural 
communities.

(A) The growing demand for  housing ,  traffic congestion , and  longer commuting trips  has -->  not parallel  
(B) Traffic congestion, the growing demand for housing, and longer commuting trips  has  
(C) Longer commuting trips, traffic congestion, and the growing demand for housing  has  
(D) Traffic congestion, longer commuting trips, and the growing demand for housing have -->  correct 
(E) The growing demand for housing, as well as traffic congestion and longer commuting trips,  have

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

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

This sentence describes how three factors–traffic congestion, longer commuting trips, and the growing demand for housing–affect rural housing costs. The noun phrases denoting these three factors must be clearly distinguished to avoid implying that there is a growing demand for traffic congestion and for longer commuting trips as well as for housing. The main auxiliary verb  has  or  have  must agree with the singular or plural grammatical subject of the sentence.
 
 Option A:  The subject  The growing demand for housing, traffic congestion, and longer commuting trips , combined with the singular verb form  has , oddly indicates that there is a single, unified growing demand for housing, for traffic congestion, and for longer commuting trips--clearly not the intended meaning.

Option B:  The plural compound subject  Traffic congestion, the growing demand for housing, and longer commuting trips  does not agree with the singular verb form  has .

Option C:  The plural compound subject  Longer commuting trips, traffic congestion, and the growing demand for housing  does not agree with the singular verb form  has .

Option D:  Correct. The plural compound subject  Traffic congestion, longer commuting trips, and the growing demand for housing  agrees with the plural verb form  have . The compound subject is worded to unambiguously distinguish between the three factors it lists.

Option E:  The singular grammatical subject here is simply  The growing demand for housing , which does not agree with the plural verb form  have . The parenthetical phrase  as well as traffic congestion and longer commuting times  does not make the grammatical subject plural. The  as well as  construction is unnecessarily wordy.
 
The correct answer is D.

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.

ravigupta2912 · Answer

(A) The growing demand for housing, traffic congestion, and longer commuting trips has -- "has". SV error. 3 elements in the list require a plural verb since that verb describes the action by 3 different subjects.

(B) Traffic congestion, the growing demand for housing, and longer commuting trips has -- Same as A.

(C) Longer commuting trips, traffic congestion, and the growing demand for housing has -- Same as A.

(D) Traffic congestion, longer commuting trips, and the growing demand for housing have -- No problem

(E) The growing demand for housing, as well as traffic congestion and longer commuting trips, have -- A as well as B and C. Incorrect construction construction. This would have been right had B&C been a compound subject but they're not.

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