Subject Verb agreement

[akanksha_soneja]

can anyone help me with this question...?the solution says that second option is the answer.however i feel that third option should be the answer.why singular verb shouldn't be used ?why is the verb referring to 'factors' and not 'one of the factors'?
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.
- keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did
- keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
- keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, as it did
- keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like
- keep the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did
Thanks in advance

[jnelson0612]

Hi! Please see this thread in which that issue is discussed: a-higher-interest-rate-is-only-one-of-the-factors-t732.html

[akanksha_soneja]

Hi Jamie.I saw the thread you have mentioned and understood what has been explained there but still not very confident in solving this error :(

[jnelson0612]

Hi Jamie.I saw the thread you have mentioned and understood what has been explained there but still not very confident in solving this error :(

Can you tell me more about what is still troubling you?

[krishnan.anju1987]

Hi Jamie.I saw the thread you have mentioned and understood what has been explained there but still not very confident in solving this error :(

I think the reason for using keep here is that the action is referring to many factors. Think of it this way

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

Here, a higher interest rate is only one of the factors, the factors that keep the housing market from spiralling out of control.

The part using one of just tells us that a higher interest rate is one of the factors. Its those factors that keep the market from spiralling out of control. Hence, the usage of keep. Here usage of that is the main reason the verb takes plural form. that cannot modify one of the factors or the higher interest rate. It modifies the noun just before it i.e factors.

The problem is keeps sounds better. I guess that's because we are often now grammatically correct while speaking.

[jnelson0612]

I can't really say it any better than Stacey (the GMAT goddess!) does in the first thread, so let me just repost her explanation:

"The key clue here is the "that" following factors. (You can ignore the phrase set off by commas "albeit an important one.") "That" indicates an essential noun modifier, which means the clause following it is modifying the noun immediately preceding it - factors (again, ignore that phrase set off by the commas). So, "factors keep" is the correct subject-verb match here."

So keep this in mind if you see the word "that" used and the words following "that" are describing the noun in front of "that". In this case, the noun being described is the subject of the clause and you should pair THAT particular noun with the verb. :-)

[akanksha_soneja]

Thanks Jamie..I'll keep it in mind..:)

[tim]

:)