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Difficulty: HardSubject-Verb Agreement

The preservation of these historical artifacts remains a priority. Indeed, every one of the archival boxes containing the letters, journals, and photographs of the famous polar explorer are in the climate-controlled vault to prevent deterioration. Conservators monitor the room's temperature daily.

Which of the following is the correct way to write the underlined portion?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. isAnswer
  3. C
    were
  4. D
    was

Answer

The singular present-tense verb 'is' correctly matches the singular subject 'every one' and maintains the present tense of the passage.
The subject of the verb is the singular pronoun 'every one.' The long prepositional phrase containing plural nouns is an intervening modifier and does not change the singular nature of the subject. Therefore, the verb must be the singular form 'is' to agree with the subject. Furthermore, using the present-tense verb maintains consistency with the present-tense verbs 'remains' and 'monitor' in the surrounding sentences.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the subject of the verb in the underlined portion.
The subject is the singular pronoun 'every one'.
The intervening phrase 'of the archival boxes containing the letters, journals, and photographs of the famous polar explorer' contains plural nouns, but the actual grammatical subject is the singular pronoun preceding this phrase.
2
Analyze the tense of the surrounding sentences in the passage.
The surrounding sentences use present-tense verbs ('remains' and 'monitor').
To maintain consistency, the correct verb form must be in the present tense.
3
Select the verb form that is both singular and in the present tense.
The correct choice is 'is'.
This resolves the subject-verb agreement error without introducing an incorrect tense shift.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Phrases
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement

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