When John requested the assistance of a certain professor with his the

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

When John requested the assistance of a certain professor with his thesis, which is by no means related to mathematics, the professor replied that mathematics are essential in order to test John's main hypothesis.


A. is by no means related to mathematics, the professor replied that mathematics are essential in order to

Incorrect.

This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The singular subject mathematics does not agree with the plural verb are.

What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question as well as identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:

A pseudo-plural singular subject

Mathematics is a confusing subject. It ends with -s, which makes us think of it as a plural subject, but it is, in fact, singular.


B. in no way is related to mathematics, the professor replied that mathematic is an essential

Incorrect.

This answer choice is illogical and doesn't fit into the original sentence. Omitting the -s from the noun mathematics turns it into the adjective mathematic, which is syntactically out of place. Changing are essential to is an essential disturbs the sentence structure and creates the nonsensical and ungrammatical sequence is an essential test John's.

Did you notice the omission of the -s from mathematics?


C. clearly has nothing whatsoever to do with mathematics, the professor replied that mathematics is essential in order to

Incorrect.

Although it corrects the original Subject Verb Agreement mistake, this answer choice is stylistically flawed. It replaces the phrase is by no means related to with a more verbose version - clearly has nothing whatsoever to do with, creating redundancy.

It is true that answer choices which are grammatically correct but are stylistically flawed are preferable to grammatically incorrect answer choices. However, there is an answer choice which is both grammatically correct and not redundant, so it is preferable to this one.


D. in no way is related to mathematics, the professor replied that mathematics is essential in order to

Correct.

This answer choice corrects the original Subject Verb Agreement mistake, by changing the plural verb are to the singular verb is, to match the singular (pseudo plural) subject mathematics.

While this answer choice changes some of the wording of the original sentence, it retains the original meaning.


E. in no way have any relation to mathematics, the professor replied that mathematics is to essentially

Incorrect.

Although it corrects the original mistake, this answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The singular subject thesis does not agree with the plural verb have.

What helps us identify this question as a Subject Verb Agreement question as well as identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign:

A pseudo-plural singular subject

Mathematics is a confusing subject. It ends with -s, which makes us think of it as a plural subject, but it is, in fact, singular.

In addition, the change from essential in order to test to is to essentially test changes the meaning of the original sentence.

Answer: D.