<p>A number of scientists have begun to speculate whether life actually began as crystals of clay rather than as organic molecules. </p>
<p>A. have begun
B. whether
C. actually began
D. than
E. no error</p>
<p>and also for this question, is "a number" considered singular or plural.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>i guess the answer is E.....a number is plural here</p>
<p>I guessed (E) also. And, as gluttony said, 'a number' is plural since it's talking about scientist*s*.</p>
<p>so number isnt a collective now?</p>
<p>like if you say gang of pirates, even though its pirates gang is still singular...number doesnt work that way?</p>
<p>oh yea by the way it is E.</p>
<p>Well, gang is more like a grouping word, right? Like a flock of birds, or a herd of sheep. It's like the word that is used for the quantity of something.</p>
<p>A number, on the other hand, isn't a grouping word. If it was, it would be a team of scientists, or something. Hope I helped..</p>
<p>also why is
whether life actually began as crystals of clay rather than as organic molecules
this correct</p>
<p>can you have whether all by itself? because isnt it whether...or? no whether...rather than</p>
<p>i think rather than is wrong, it should be OR
whether ..as crystals of clay OR as organic molecules</p>
<p>^ I agree.</p>
<p>ya but unfortunently 'rather than' is not a choice, just 'than' which is useless...so thats why i put B on this...as i thought 'whether' was wrong</p>
<p>really when i first saw this i thought it was A or B so i was surprised when it was E...</p>
<p>i guess rather than isnt really worng because if you changed it to or, it would change the meaning of the sentence...so thats why i thought inorder to keep the same meaning but to fix the grammar mistake i thought it would read</p>
<p>A number of scientists have begun to speculate THAT life actually began as crystals of clay rather than as organic molecules. </p>
<p>instead of </p>
<p>A number of scientists have begun to speculate WHETHER life actually began as crystals of clay rather than as organic molecules. </p>
<p>anyone else?
to me, whether doesnt make sense, because inorder to have whether, you need or instead of rather than, but since rather than isnt a choice, whether was wrong...but then again i could be wrong just as easily</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>im not sure about "a number" if it can be singular,but it is alot times plural.
im not sure if "a number" goes 2 ways like "all,some",but its at least plural.
"the number" is singular.</p>
<p>um, okay,it was my fault.
rather is not underlined, so than is not wrong. but whether is not wrong here, i understand that that works well too,but whether is grammatically okay.</p>
<p>and no, whether, most of the time can stand alone, unless the sentences throws out 2 things of contrast.
Tom doesn't care whether the girl is pretty or not
Tom doesn't care whether the girl is pretty.
both sentences are correct,but the first one with oris redundant.
whether doesn't necessarily follow or.</p>