Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by supplying the grammatically correct verb form that maintains proper subject-verb agreement.

Answer:Neither the lead architect nor the site engineers 【were】 satisfied with the quality of the building materials delivered last week.

Answer

were
When two subjects are joined by 'neither...nor', the rule of proximity dictates that the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. Here, the plural noun phrase 'the site engineers' is closest to the verb position, making the plural past-tense verb 'were' the grammatically correct choice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the subjects and the conjunction connecting them.
The singular subject 'the lead architect' and the plural subject 'the site engineers' are connected by the correlative conjunction 'neither...nor'.
Sentences using 'neither...nor' are governed by the principle of proximity concord.
2
Apply the rule of proximity concord.
The verb must agree in number with the subject closer to it, which is the plural noun phrase 'the site engineers'.
When subjects of different numbers are joined by 'neither...nor', the verb takes the person and number of the nearer subject.
3
Select the correct tense and agreement form for the blank.
The plural past-tense verb form required is 'were'.
The temporal marker 'last week' indicates a completed past action, requiring past tense.

Key Concept

Proximity Concord with Correlative Conjunctions
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

More questions from this topic