Present perfect continuous is generally used to describe actions or states of being that are both ongoing and uninterrupted (i.e. continuous). It sometimes refers to an action that has just ended. It is also often paired with measurements of time. "I have been waiting for you to respond to my p...

In this usage, "a number of" is being used idiomatically to mean "many," so the plural verb should be used. The example we use in the class slides is: The number of dogs IS large. A number of dogs ARE here. In the first case, the subject is "number." It's the number tha...

The flaw here is unfortunately in the English language! :) These similar meanings are a frequent source of confusion. "Lay" has two major verb meanings: --The past tense of "lie" (as in "lie down," not "tell a lie"--we still say "He lied to me.") --T...

I think the comments have been spot on. Ratheesh, you are right that an additional "and" in #7 would put a break in the parallel structure that would not just allow, but actually necessitate an additional "that." However, the comma in the original creates a list that must be continued with another...

The health commissioner in this sentence is talking about two distinct events in different tenses. First, that the government had implemented strict measures, and second, that it would try to prevent future outbreaks. What Dan is pointing out is that these two events are not being linked conditional...

It's okay to use a possessive noun as the antecedent of a possessive pronoun, just not as the antecedent of a regular pronoun. Correct: Mike's managerial skills are more developed than his singing skills. Incorrect: Mike's singing does not make him many friends. Remember that this rule (possessive p...

The reason that past perfect is not required here is that the two past events are not at different points in time. Geologists thought that the lava they observed was a remnant of an earlier time. Since the geologists' thoughts and the lava existed simultaneously, there is no need for a complex tense...

The subject of the sentence is simply "reason," but in either case, yes, we want a singular verb. That verb is "is." The reason . . . is that these foods . . . "Makes" is the verb for "spicy foods." If you follow the logic of the sentence, it is the foods that...

I would prefer to see "like gold" follow "platinum," as in your first choice. However, our ideal sentence often fails to appear. The word "like" does not have to touch the two nouns it compares, even if it might sound better that way. Your second option would also work,...

Option C is correct. Do you mean A? We don't want to say "was neither . . nor was . . ." Since "was" precedes the "neither/nor" part of the sentence, we should just use it once. "Neither" and "nor" introduce the words that describe what classical gui...

Rajiv had it right. The passage only talks about acceptance to Ivy League schools, not attendance. Knowing that someone has been accepted to a school is not sufficient to determine that they attended that school.

Hi yklouk, The licorice plant sentence is not correct as written. In addition to the parallelism error, it contains multiple modifier errors. I'd double-check that answer! The problem with "that" and "where" in the Minnesota problem is that those are two different parts of speech...

Hi, Linking verbs can be used for several different purposes. In the sentences you provided, linking verbs are used to link the subject with an adjective. That's perfectly fine, just as "The bouquet of flowers was pretty" is just fine. The parallelism issue comes up when the linking verb l...

You can switch order, but "does he" is not generally used. You're more likely to see the verb before the pronoun when the things being compared take additional words to describe: People who prepare for the GMAT tend to score higher than do those who take it sight unseen. You might also add...

Hi rx_11, I can see how our presentation might have been confusing. The lists on page 114 dictate how to use verbs when they are being applied in a "bossy" way, i.e. to tell someone to do something. If I propose or suggest that *you* do something, I need to use the command subjunctive: I p...