<p>Downzoning, zoning that typically results in the reduction of housing density, allows for more open space in areas where (little water or services exist).</p>
<p>(A) little water or services exist
(B) little water or services exists
(C) few services and little water exists
(D) there is little water or services available
(E) there are few services and little available water</p>
<p>I chose D, for I think when nor or or is used the subject closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. I don’t understand why the answer is E. I think E alters the oririnal meaning by placing “aviable” before “water”</p>
<p>The problem with D is that “there is little” is being applied to both “water” and “services available,” and if you separate the two parts, you are essentially saying:</p>
<p>“<strong>allows for more open space in areas where there is little water.”
That part’s fine
“</strong>allows for more open space in areas where there is little services available.”
The problem with that is that “is” and “services” don’t match, and “little” doesn’t really make sense.</p>
<p>E is correct because it gives “services” a plural linking verb and because it separates the two ideas–splitting it up into 2 sentences would work. Placing available before water is fine, because the idea is that you’re reducing housing density because of a lack of water.</p>
<p>then i have question, according to your reasoning, the followling sentence
"Neither my brothers nor my father is going to sell the house. " is wrong since if we separate the two parts, we get:
neither my brothers is going to sell the house, nor is my father going to sell the house.</p>
<p>then what would the verb of that sentence be?</p>
<p>The original question is less about the verb than about the word “little.” It is incorrect to say “little services exist.” It would need to be “few services exist.” Since there is no choice which says “few services and little water exist,” the next best thing is choice E. For the sentence about the brothers and the father, the verb is the question, and the verb needs to be plural, because the subject (brothers and father) of the sentence is plural.</p>
<p>I don’t know where the Q come from; my friend asked me. However I do think E alters the meaning. If we change “available” to some other words like “accessible”, then the sentence would change
FROM
“…allows for more open space in areas where little water or services exist”
TO
“…allows for more open space in areas where there are few services and little accesible water”
in this case, you add a modifier to “water” (though available does not seem to alter much of the original meaning) but the modifier originally modifies both “water and services”.</p>
<p>Downzoning, zoning that typically results in the reduction of housing density, allows for more open space in areas where (little water or services exist).</p>
<p>(A) little water or services exist
(B) little water or services exists
(C) few services and little water exists
(D) there is little water or services available
(E) there are few services and little available water</p>
<p>E is definitely correct. D can’t be the answer because you have the adjective “little” that modifies water but after “or” you have no such modifier: When using coordinating conjunctions, you must have parallel structures. E satisfies that rule by having “few” and “little” as modifiers of services and the available water, respectively.
As a sidenote, you can change the structure so long as it conveys the message clearly. I don’t think the meaning is changed in doing so.</p>
<p>But yeah, this ain’t a CB type of question. I suggest you not practice non-CB materials. You’re just wasting your time and in doing so, you are wasting our time.</p>