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Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement

Read the following sentence from an academic essay draft:

"A meticulous analysis of the historical documents, alongside recent archaeological discoveries from the excavation sites, reveal that the ancient trade routes were far more extensive than previously assumed."

Which of the following revisions correctly maintains standard subject-verb agreement?

  1. A meticulous analysis of the historical documents, alongside recent archaeological discoveries from the excavation sites, reveals that the ancient trade routes were far more extensive than previously assumed.Answer
  2. B
    A meticulous analysis of the historical documents, alongside recent archaeological discoveries from the excavation sites, reveal that the ancient trade routes were far more extensive than previously assumed.
  3. C
    A meticulous analysis of the historical documents, alongside recent archaeological discoveries from the excavation sites, are revealing that the ancient trade routes were far more extensive than previously assumed.
  4. D
    A meticulous analysis of the historical documents, alongside recent archaeological discoveries from the excavation sites, have revealed that the ancient trade routes was far more extensive than previously assumed.
  5. E
    A meticulous analysis of the historical documents, alongside recent archaeological discoveries from the excavation sites, reveals that the ancient trade routes was far more extensive than previously assumed.

Answer

The revision that changes 'reveal' to 'reveals' while preserving 'were' correctly maintains subject-verb agreement across both the main clause and the dependent clause.
The simple subject of the main clause is 'analysis', which is singular. Expressions introduced by 'alongside', 'together with', or 'as well as' are prepositional modifiers and do not create a plural compound subject. Therefore, the singular verb 'reveals' is required. Additionally, the plural subject 'routes' in the dependent clause correctly matches the plural verb 'were'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary grammatical subject of the main clause.
The core subject is the singular noun 'analysis'.
The words following 'analysis' ('of the historical documents' and 'alongside recent archaeological discoveries...') are prepositional/modifier phrases that do not change the number of the subject.
2
Determine the correct verb form for the main clause predicate.
The singular subject 'analysis' requires the singular verb 'reveals' rather than the plural 'reveal'.
Phrases introduced by prepositions or compound prepositions like 'alongside', 'as well as', or 'in addition to' do not form compound subjects.
3
Verify agreement in the subordinate clause.
The plural subject 'trade routes' correctly pairs with the plural past-tense verb 'were'.
The dependent clause subject 'routes' is plural and must maintain plural agreement.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Prepositional Phrases
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement

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