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Question

Difficulty: HardSubject-Verb Agreement

The passage below contains a blank where a verb should be. Read the passage and determine the correct present-tense form of the verb 'suspect' to ensure proper subject-verb agreement. What is the correct form of the verb that completes the sentence?

Answer:Neither the lead curator nor the restoration specialists who analyzed the pigments on the damaged Renaissance fresco 【suspect】 that the underlying plaster is deteriorating.

Answer

suspect
The correct answer is 'suspect'. The sentence features a compound subject joined by the correlative conjunctions 'neither... nor'. In such constructions, the verb must agree with the closer subject. The closer subject is 'the restoration specialists', which is plural. Therefore, the verb must also be plural ('suspect'). The singular noun 'fresco' at the end of the relative clause does not affect the agreement of the main verb.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the subject of the verb in the sentence.
The subject is a compound subject joined by 'neither... nor': 'the lead curator' (singular) and 'the restoration specialists' (plural).
To determine subject-verb agreement, the subject must be correctly identified.
2
Apply the rule for compound subjects joined by 'neither... nor'.
The verb must agree with the closer subject, which is the plural noun 'specialists'.
When subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb agrees with the closer subject.
3
Select the correct present-tense form of the verb 'suspect' to agree with the plural subject.
The plural form is 'suspect'.
A plural subject requires a plural verb form without an 's' ending.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Compound Subjects (Neither/Nor)
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement

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