singular or plural?

[tsy11]

Which phrase is correct?


Three cats each eat ...

Three cats each eats ...

[eagle]

Rephrased- it would be' Each of 3 cats eats...'
Since eats is a verb for 'each' of the cats- it is in plural.
So , again, 3 cats each eats- is right,IMO.

[tsy11]

The question stems from the following problem:

Although it claims to delve into political issues, television can be superficial such as when each of the three major networks broadcast exactly the same statement from a political candidate.

a)
b)superficial, as can sometimes occur if all of three major networks
c)superficial if the three major networks all
d)superficial, whenever each of the three major networks
e)superficial, as when the three major networks each


The ans is suppose to be E


I eliminated E initially cuz I thought each should be followed by broadcasts

[BreezeThruGMAT]

Hi tsy11,
Now this is a very interesting problem.
We all know that each takes a singular verb/singular pronoun,but in cases like the one above we also have the following rule:

"When each comes after a plural noun or pronoun, it takes a plural verb "

>>They each have their own way of doing it.

On the same lines,we can justify that e is correct!

HTH..

[eagle]

This was confusing:-) Thanks BreezeThruGMAT! and Thanks Tsy11 for bringing this up.

[am1974]

I woudl like to through my 2 cents here.

I would think that the answer should be C.

For E to be true, the verb should still be a plural verb. IMHO, it does not matter whether each follows or precedes the plural noun. It should take plural verb.

For example, if we consider present continuous tense,

three major networks each is broadcasting

OR

three major networks each are broadcasting.

Which one sounds more reasonable? According to the rule created by BreezeThruGMAT, the second sentence should be the correct one but that is pretty illogical.

Can you recheck the correct answer?

Is this Official Guide problem?

Thanks