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Question

Difficulty: EasySubject-Verb Agreement

Read the sentence below. Fill in the blank with the correct present-tense form of the verb in parentheses to ensure proper subject-verb agreement. What is the correct form of the verb?

Answer:A team of aerospace engineers (analyze) 【analyzes】 the daily telemetry data sent back by the Mars rover.

Answer

analyzes (or analyses)
The correct verb form is 'analyzes' (or 'analyses'). The subject of the verb is the singular noun 'team', not the plural noun 'engineers', which is part of the intervening prepositional phrase 'of aerospace engineers'. Under the rules of subject-verb agreement, a singular subject must be paired with a singular verb form.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the subject of the sentence.
The subject is the noun phrase 'A team of aerospace engineers'. The head noun of this phrase is 'team', which is a singular collective noun. The plural noun 'engineers' is the object of the prepositional phrase 'of aerospace engineers' and is not the subject of the sentence.
Finding the grammatical subject determines whether the verb must be singular or plural.
2
Select the correct singular present-tense form of the verb.
The singular form of the verb 'to analyze' in the present tense is 'analyzes' (or 'analyses').
A singular subject requires a singular verb for proper subject-verb agreement.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Prepositional Phrases
Estimated Time:30s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement

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