GATE CSE 2019 | Question: GA-1

Question

The expenditure on the project _____ as follows: equipment Rs.$20$ lakhs, salaries Rs.$12$ lakhs, and contingency Rs.$3$ lakhs.

• A. break down
• B. break
• C. breaks down
• D. breaks

Comments

this question was for 1 marks or 2?

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1

Answer 1

$\rightarrow$ Break down means to separate something into smaller parts.

$\rightarrow$ The subject-word agreement states that

Singular nouns go with singular verbs while plural nouns go with plural verbs.

$\rightarrow$ Expenditure is singular noun and its plural form is expenditures.

The expenditure (singular noun) in the project breaks (singular verb used in the phrase) down as follows 

$\rightarrow$ The above statement satisfies the subject verb agreement and hence, the correct option is $C$

Comments

Well explained

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But breaks is plural form of break

How answer C) then

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@Dipanshu Rana breaks is not the plural form of break. 

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Check out how to use -s, -es, -ies for singular nouns.

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when will we use  “break down”?

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@Pranavpurkar “break down” is used with plural noun. This is because break is a plural verb.

Eg: Break your expenditures down into bills, food, and other.

Credit for the eg: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/break-down#:~:text=Break%20your%20expenditures%20down%20into%20bills%2C%20food%2C%20and%20other

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Abhrajyoti00

break is singular right?

plural of break is breaks

https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/the-plural-of/break.html#:~:text=The%20plural%20form%20of%20break%20is%20breaks.

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@Pranavpurkar Oh no I am not saying that. We know that, when a singular noun is the Subject of a verb, the verb is singular. But there’s a catch. 

Ok, tell me what is the plural of read?

 

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Abhrajyoti00

reads 😅

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Yeah xD. Now you also agree that ‘she’ is singular and it’s plural is ‘shes’ or ‘they’ a/c to What is the plural of she? (wordhippo.com)

But still we write ‘She reads’. This is because when we make a sentence of present indefinite tense, we have to add a 's' sound to the end of the verb if the subject is a third person singular number. 

Also known as: Third-Person Singular Verb Ending

That’s why we use expenditure breaks down into …., and expenditures break down into ….

Read more here: Third-Person Singular Forms of Verbs in English (thoughtco.com)

Add s, es, ies, to a Verb to Make It Singular (thenewdaylearning.com)

Answer 2

Breaks down since it means classification into parts

Comments

Sure??

Answer 3

C breaks down.

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/break-down 

Answer 4

Breaks down means separated

or

 classify the thing into smaller parts.