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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by filling in the blank with the grammatically correct form of the verb in the past tense.

Answer:The lead counsel, as well as his junior associates, 【was】 present at the high court hearing yesterday.

Answer

The correct verb form to complete the sentence is 'was'.
The subject of the clause is the singular noun 'The lead counsel'. Intervening phrases introduced by 'as well as' do not pluralize the grammatical subject. Therefore, the singular past-tense verb 'was' is required to establish correct concord.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical subject of the sentence and any intervening parenthetical expressions.
The principal subject is the singular noun phrase 'The lead counsel'. The modifying phrase 'as well as his junior associates' is introduced by a quasi-conjunction.
Expressions such as 'as well as', 'together with', 'alongside', and 'in addition to' do not form a compound plural subject.
2
Select the verb form that agrees in number with the principal subject and reflects the past time frame.
The singular past tense verb form 'was' correctly agrees with 'The lead counsel'.
A singular subject requires a singular verb regardless of plural nouns appearing within the intervening prepositional or parenthetical phrase.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Quasi-Conjunctions
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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