Yet another grammar problem keeping from an 800

pokrat
Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:30:04 +0000

Question 1(BB 2nd ed pg 956 number 14)
Introducing new ideas and replacing old ones isalways a highly controversial matter,…

Btw this is a find the error.
I thought the answer would have to be is, since i thought [introducing new ideas and replacing old ones] is a compound subject, so shouldn’t the verb agree with the plural subject.

However, this question was a no error, and i understand why it is (because a highly controversial matter is singular, so is would be correct).
Despite this explanation , I don’t understand why that part is not considered a compound subject. Could someone help me. Thanks

Question 2 (BB 2nd ed pg 957 number 19)
George Thornton Emmons was one of a handful of ethnographers who commited their life to studying the Tlingit culture of the Northwest Coast.

The answer was C. I luckily chose C as well but for the wrong reason according the answer explanation. I chose C as the error because i thought that (their life) was modifying (one of a handful of ethnographers, and thus I thought it was a singular subject). Therefore, I thought that C was wrong because it should have been changed from “their life” to “his life.”

Of course, my rationale is flawed according the explanation which states that the (their life) is actually modifying (ethnographers, and thus is plural). According to the explanation, (their life) should become (their lives) in order to cope with the plurality of the modified noun.

Could someone please explain why in this case, (ethnographers) is being modified instead of (one of the ethnographers).

Thanks Again.