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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct form of the verb that satisfies the rule of grammatical concord.

Answer:A comprehensive series of workshops on modern agricultural techniques 【was】 organized by the ministry last month.

Answer

The correct verb form to complete the sentence is 'was'.
The subject head is the singular noun 'series', which mandates the singular past tense verb 'was'. The intervening plural noun 'workshops' belongs to an intervening prepositional phrase and does not alter the singular agreement of the main subject.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the head noun of the grammatical subject phrase.
The true grammatical head is the singular noun 'series', modified by the prepositional phrase 'of workshops on modern agricultural techniques'.
In formal English concord, singular head nouns such as 'series', 'chain', or 'repertoire' govern singular verbs regardless of plural nouns inside post-modifying prepositional phrases.
2
Determine the appropriate tense and grammatical number.
The past time indicator 'last month' requires a past-tense singular auxiliary verb, which is 'was'.
The verb must agree in number (singular) with the subject head 'series' and in tense (past) with the temporal adverbial 'last month'.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Collective Head Nouns
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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