In each of the following sentences four words or phrases have been underlined. One underlined part in each sentence is not acceptable in standard English. Pick up that part and mark its number.
Most of the critics agree that this is one of the best novels that has appeared in recent years.
Solution
Option C is incorrect in this context because the verb “has” does not agree with the plural noun “novels”.
The issue lies in the relative clause “that has appeared”. This clause is referring back to “the best novels”. When we have a construction of “one of the + [plural noun]” followed by a relative clause, the verb in the relative clause agrees with “[plural noun]”.
In this case, “novels” is plural, so the verb in the relative clause should also be plural. Therefore, “has appeared” should be corrected to “have appeared”.
So, the correct sentence is:
“Most of the critics agree that this is one of the best novels that have appeared in recent years.”
