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Question

Difficulty: EasySubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

In the sentence below, which word correctly fills the blank to maintain proper grammatical concord?

"Each of the newly appointed directors _______ expected to present a quarterly report to the board."

  1. isAnswer
  2. B
    are
  3. C
    were
  4. D
    have

Answer

The correct option is 'is' because the distributive indefinite pronoun 'Each' takes a singular verb regardless of any intervening plural noun phrase.
The sentence has 'Each' as its grammatical head subject. Distributive indefinite pronouns like 'Each' are strictly singular and require singular verbs. Therefore, 'is' provides the proper subject-verb agreement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the head subject of the sentence.
The subject head is the indefinite pronoun 'Each'. The phrase 'of the newly appointed directors' is a prepositional modifier.
Prepositional phrases following indefinite pronouns do not change the grammatical number of the head subject.
2
Apply the subject-verb concord rule for indefinite pronouns.
Indefinite pronouns such as 'each', 'every', and 'everyone' are grammatically singular and require a singular verb.
Singular subjects demand singular verb agreement in standard English grammar.
3
Select the correct singular verb form.
The present singular auxiliary verb 'is' completes the sentence correctly.
'is' is singular, matching 'Each', while 'are', 'were', and 'have' are plural forms.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Concord
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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