A number of military personnel who served in Operation Desert Storm ha...
The number/a number is an ETS favorite. A number is plural; eliminate (A) and (B). The next split is attribute...as/attribute...to. The idiom is attribute to, so (C) and (E) are out. (D) is the answer.
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A number of military personnel who served in Operation Desert Storm ha...
Answer:
The correct answer is option D: "have encountered a series of unexplainable symptoms that have been attributed to."
Explanation:
- In this sentence, we are talking about a group of military personnel who served in Operation Desert Storm.
- The subject is "a number of military personnel," which is a plural noun. Therefore, we need to use the plural verb "have."
- The verb tense should be present perfect because the action of encountering the symptoms happened in the past but has ongoing relevance to the present.
- The symptoms are described as "unexplainable," meaning they cannot be easily understood or accounted for. This word should be used to modify "symptoms," not "encountered," so it should be placed after "a series of."
- The phrase "that have been attributed to" correctly introduces the cause or reason for the symptoms. The symptoms have been attributed to Gulf War syndrome. The use of "to" is appropriate in this context.
Incorrect options:
- Option A: "has encountered a series of unexplainable symptoms that were attributed to." This option uses the singular verb "has" instead of the plural verb "have" because it incorrectly treats "a number of military personnel" as a singular noun.
- Option B: "has unexplainably encountered a series of symptoms that have been attributed as." This option incorrectly uses the adverb "unexplainably" to modify "encountered," which is not grammatically correct. Additionally, it uses "attributed as" instead of "attributed to."
- Option C: "have encountered a series of unexplained symptoms that have been attributed as." This option also uses "attributed as" instead of "attributed to," which is grammatically incorrect.
- Option E: "have encountered unexplainably a series of symptoms that were attributed as." This option incorrectly places the adverb "unexplainably" before "have encountered," which is not grammatically correct. Additionally, it uses "attributed as" instead of "attributed to."