Writing Question

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Fifty percent of the people alive today (have) never made a phone call, (but) thirty percent (still) have no electricity connections to (their) homes. No error.</p>

<p>I thought “have” and “their” are wrong because they should be singular, since the subject refers to a quantity/amount and answers the question “how much?”. We say: “twenty percent of the class is going to fail the test”. So, “have” should be “has”, and “their” should be “its”???</p>

<p>The answer is “but”, because it makes an illogical transition between the clauses. </p>

<p>Are all three wrong? Or can phrases referring to measurement, quantity/amount be flexible like collective nouns, meaning you can use the plural form and the singular form? For collective nouns, it depends on how you refer to them—as discrete entities or as a single unit.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>people is plural, you would not say people has never, instead you would say people have never</p>

3

<p>and however would be grammatically correct (instead of but)</p>

4

<p>I think “and” would make a better transition because the clauses both describe people in miserable conditions. Rather than contrasting these people, the sentence complements one to another to make a sentence on some population. </p>

<p>The subject is not “people”, but “fifty percent of the people”/“thirty percent of the people”.</p>

5

<p>ah you are right i misread the sentence, but the sentence says still have, and you can assume from that that have is correct, as well as their</p>