Question

Find the error in the underlined part of the sentence and rewrite it without changing its meaning.
According to a recent study of consumer spending on prescription medications, increases in the sales of the 50 drugs that were advertised most heavily accounts for almost half of the $20.8$ billion increase in drug spending last year, the remainder of which came from sales of the 9,850 prescription medicines that companies did not advertise or advertised very little.

A) heavily accounts for almost half of the $20.8$ billion increase in drug spending last year, the remainder of which came
B) heavily were what accounted for almost half of the $20.8$ billion increase in drug spending last year; the remainder of the increase coming
C) heavily accounted for almost half of the $20.8$ billion increase in drug spending last year, the remainder of the increase coming
D) heavily, accounting for almost half of the $20.8$ billion increase in drug spending last year, while the remainder of the increase came
E) heavily, which accounted for almost half of the $20.8$ billion increase in drug spending last year, with the remainder of it coming

Answer 1

Hint: Read the given sentence and try to understand what it is trying to convey. Further, comprehend the meaning of the underlined sentence and try to find the mistake. The word ‘accounts’ is given in the singular form while the subject ‘increases’ is in the plural form.

Complete answer:
As given in the hint, we know that ‘accounts’ is a singular noun which has been wrongly used with a plural subject ‘increases’. Also, ‘accounts’ is in the present tense form while the sentence clearly indicates about the past ‘last year’.

In the phrase ‘the remainder of which came’, it will be difficult for us to identify the use of which. Hence, we should replace the ambiguous pronoun ‘which’ with the actual noun ‘increase’. In the above passage: We can understand that the passage is conveying a message by comparing the sales of last year. Hence, we need to use the past tense form of the verb.

Let’s look at the options-
Option A- The given sentence utilizes singular noun ‘accounts’ with plural noun ‘increases’. Also, ‘accounts’ is in the present tense form. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
Option B- The use of semicolons after ‘year’ is inaccurate. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
Option C- The given sentence portrays a logical and accurate meaning. Hence, it is the correct option.
Option D- The use of ‘accounting’ is wrong. Hence, it is an incorrect option.
Option E- The use of ambiguous pronoun ‘which’ after ‘heavily’ produces an illogical meaning. Hence, it is an incorrect option.

Thus the correct answer is Option ‘C’..

Note: In questions such as these, try to find errors in the tense form of the verb or other parts of speech. You can also use the trial and hit method.