Pharma Profits

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Pharmaceuticals, despite facing an ongoing innovation challenge, ranks as one of the most profitable industries in a recent study, surpassed only by internet and network services.

Review: Pharma Profits


Explanation

Creating a filter: In our universal test of subject and verb, we have "pharmaceuticals" and "ranks," which are respectively the subject and verb of the sentence. "Ranks" is grammatically singular. Is "pharmaceuticals" grammatically singular or plural? The imaginary author of this sentence is talking about an industry, which is "pharmaceuticals." So it's grammatically singular, contrary to its sound. That means the sentence doesn't have any obvious error as written.

Finding objective defects: We go to the answer choices with the mission of knocking out (B) through (E), in turn. Choices (B) and (D) both use grammatically plural verbs, so they are out. Choices (C) and (E) use verbs that are grammatically singular, but introduce unnecessary wordiness. When we look for defects in the answer choices, we can start with the same universal tests we apply to the original sentence, starting with subject and verb of the main clause. The correct answer is (A).


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