singular Vs plural in "one of the" construct

[nrohatgi]

Here are 2 Sentences from MGMAT

1) Since 1989, after the Berlin Wall had been demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in cultural and economic assimilation terms, were the former East Germans, who have had to acclimate to an entirely different political system.

2) A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade.

In the 1st sentence "one of the most problematic ethnic groups" is considered singular.

In the 2nd sentence "one of the features" is considered plural.

Further, I was researching how to identify Singular/plural and found another sentence :
3) Only one of the students was registerd.

In the 3rd sentence "one of the students" is considered singular.

Please explain how to identify Singular/Plural in "One of the" constructs.

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Your middle sentence has a different structure. Here's the core of each:

1) One of the ethnic groups was (main subj=one, main verb=was)

2) A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keep (main subj=rate, main verb=was. THEN "one of the factors that keep" is a subordinate clause - the "that" indicates a noun modifier, so it refers to the noun right before it - "factors")

3) One of the students was (main subj = one, main verb = was)

So the question is what noun to match with what verb. In a sentence in which you have a straight "one of the noun verb," one is going to match with that verb. In a sentence in which you have "noun verb one of the noun THAT verb" the verb is going to go with the noun immediately preceding the word "that."

[upa]

Your middle sentence has a different structure. Here's the core of each:

1) One of the ethnic groups was (main subj=one, main verb=was)

2) A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keep (main subj=rate, main verb=was. THEN "one of the factors that keep" is a subordinate clause - the "that" indicates a noun modifier, so it refers to the noun right before it - "factors")

3) One of the students was (main subj = one, main verb = was)

So the question is what noun to match with what verb. In a sentence in which you have a straight "one of the noun verb," one is going to match with that verb. In a sentence in which you have "noun verb one of the noun THAT verb" the verb is going to go with the noun immediately preceding the word "that."

skoprince,

did you mean verb = is in #2?

[Guest]

Your middle sentence has a different structure. Here's the core of each:

1) One of the ethnic groups was (main subj=one, main verb=was)

2) A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keep (main subj=rate, main verb=was. THEN "one of the factors that keep" is a subordinate clause - the "that" indicates a noun modifier, so it refers to the noun right before it - "factors")

3) One of the students was (main subj = one, main verb = was)

So the question is what noun to match with what verb. In a sentence in which you have a straight "one of the noun verb," one is going to match with that verb. In a sentence in which you have "noun verb one of the noun THAT verb" the verb is going to go with the noun immediately preceding the word "that."

Hi But should it be "were" since it refers to " east Germans" and not ' east german'.
Use of was makes it sound like 'was the East germans' which is incorrect

[JonathanSchneider]

Yes, she meant "is." Simple type, thanks for catching it. We get a little tired sometimes :)

As to the last post, no, "was" is correct. You need to match the verb to the subject, NOT to the corresponding point after the subject. "One" is still the subject here, not the Germans.

I'd suggest you take a look at SC #90 in OG11 for another great example.

[jaiswaln]

Thanks stacy... you are the best.

I guess most of us get confused as we all have read "one of the" construction with that in MHGMAT SC guide and overlooked the simpler form which is for fractions. :)

Great work everyone.

[JonathanSchneider]

: )

[ankurgupt]

Since 1989, xxxxxx, one of the most problematic ethnic groups, yyyyyy, zzzzzz, WAS the former East Germans, who have had to acclimate.....

It doesn't sound right to say: "one of the groups was X who have had to do Y", or does it??

please clarify.

[RonPurewal]

Since 1989, xxxxxx, one of the most problematic ethnic groups, yyyyyy, zzzzzz, WAS the former East Germans, who have had to acclimate.....

It doesn't sound right to say: "one of the groups was X who have had to do Y", or does it??

please clarify.

it's correct.

if you have NOUN is/are NOUN, then the first NOUN is the subject. you can only have a backward construction (verb before subject) when NOTHING before the verb is eligible to be the subject.

these, for example, are both correct:
the most difficult part of the exam was the 3 questions at the end.
the 3 questions at the end were the most difficult part of the exam.
in the first one, "part" is the subject. in the second, "questions" is the subject.

same deal here.

also, you definitely should not be making decisions based on what "sounds right". that's the biggest no-no in the book.

[loveu_sanky]

Ron,

Thanks for that crisp explanation. I got ur point that as subject is present before verb and hence verb should qualify the subject. Adding a twist to the tale below:

...former East Germans, who have : Presence of Who suggest it refers to Subject of earlier sentence(if I am not wrong).

...former East Germans, whom have : presence of whom refers to east germans and in this situation have is correct.

I belive the question has definitely some mistake. Either it should be whom instead of who. or it should be "one of the difficulty was...former East Germans, who has"

Let me know if I am wrong here?

[esledge]

...former East Germans, who have : Presence of Who suggest it refers to Subject of earlier sentence(if I am not wrong).

...former East Germans, whom have : presence of whom refers to east germans and in this situation have is correct.

I belive the question has definitely some mistake. Either it should be whom instead of who. or it should be "one of the difficulty was...former East Germans, who has"

Let me know if I am wrong here?

I think your mistake here is thinking that the "who" phrase modifies the subject of the main clause ("one"). Not so--"who" modifies the noun right before it, "former East Germans." The verb in the "who" modifier must agree with the modified noun, so "have" is correct.

The who/whom choice is yet another beast. The only difference between those pronouns is their case:

"who" is a subject pronoun, used when the pronoun "who" or the noun modified by the relative pronoun "who" is DOING some action.

Who wants some birthday cake?
That is the person who wants some birthday cake.

"whom" is an object pronoun, used when the pronoun "whom" or the noun modified by the relative pronoun "whom" is BEING acted upon.

To whom shall I give the birthday cake?
That is the person whom I plan to hire to bake my birthday cake. (I plan to hire this person.)

The East Germans example ("...the former East Germans, who have had to acclimate to ....") can be rephrased to show that the East Germans (and thus the pronoun) act as the subject, thus we need "who" as the relative pronoun:

The East Germans have had to acclimate to....

[chitrangada.maitra]

Are we selecting the answer option with the [u]"has been"[/u] form because the non underlined part of the prompt has "have had" form?

The answer explanation says [u]'This choice uses the singular "has been," which is also in the present perfect tense, indicating the ongoing nature of the problem'.
[/u]
How do we know the problem is still ongoing?

[tim]

can you help us understand how your question relates to the overall discussion here? it appears to be a total non sequitur..

[chitrangada.maitra]

Let me rephrase the question:

source: mgmat cat

Since 1989, after the Berlin Wall had been demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in cultural and economic assimilation terms, were the former East Germans, who have had to acclimate to an entirely different political system.

Options

A. after the Berlin Wall had been demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified German, in cultural and economic assimilation terms, were the former East Germans


B. after the Berlin Wall was demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in cultural terms as well as those of economic assimilation, were the former East Germans


C. when the Berlin Wall was demolished, one of the reunified Germany's most problematic ethnic groups, in terms of cultural and economic assimilation, was the former East Germans

D. when the Berlin Wall was demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in terms of cultural and economic assimilation, has been the former East Germans

E. after the Berlin Wall had been demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in both terms of cultural and economic assimilation, have been the former East Germans

OA: D

The answer explanation for option D says: 'This choice uses the singular "has been," which is also in the present perfect tense, indicating the ongoing nature of the problem'.

My question is:

Berlin wall was probably demolished before the assimilation process of the East Germans began. So, shouldn't the past perfect be used for Berlin wall ? i.e. "Berlin Wall had been demolished" . However, option D uses past perfect for the assimilation process i.e. "one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in terms of cultural and economic assimilation, has been the former East Germans"

(acording to the strategy guide, if two actions in a sentence occured at different times in the past, we use the past perfect tense for the earlier action.)

Also, How do we know that the problem is of ongoing nature (as mentioned in the explanation)? Gmat is not particularly known to kowtow to common sense. Does selecting option D have anything to do with the fact that the non underlined portion of the prompt is in past perfect?

Thanks,

[ajay.iitr]

The verb sequence is easier to see if we make this sentence simple -take one action at a time.

First, we will take the main clause, since that is the highlighted one here.

Since 1989 - an event started in the past but is continued into the present. Two options here, if the stress is ongoing nature then it is present perfect progressive tense, if the action may or may not be completed yet, choice is present perfect tense.

Since morning, I have been studying for GMAT. (PPPT)
Since morning, I have studied for GMAT. (PPT)

Since 1989, one of the most problematic ethnic groups has been the former East Germans. - Use present perfect here and also singular auxiliary verb. (Note that we can eliminate all other wrong answers just based on this construction.

Second, we move to "after the Berlin Wall had been demolished", which is a dependent clause. Had been demolished requires another event in the past that happened after demolition, but such an event is not here anymore. Note that main clause is present perfect action which is continued in the present.

Correct example - After the Berlin Wall had been demolished, they all made out and kissed each other. - This is a correct sentence because it has another event in simple past tense after past perfect tense.

To correct original, "Since 1989, when Berlin wall was demolished, Y has happened." In this correct construction, "when Berlin Wall was demolished" states an event that happened right at 1989. And then the main clause states an event that started out since 1989, and it still having effect in present times.

Third confusion is "the former East Germans, who have had to acclimate to an entirely different political system." Remember that "who have had ...." is a relative pronoun clause modifying noun touching it. Its subject is "who" which stands for East Germans, noun preceeding "who". Break it - Since 1989, one of the most...has been the former east germans. East Germans have had to aclimate to an entirely different political system.