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Difficulty: EasySubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by filling in the blank with the grammatically correct auxiliary verb that maintains proper subject-verb agreement.

Answer:Each of the applicants 【is】 required to submit a valid identity card prior to the commencement of the interview.

Answer

The correct verb form to fill the blank is 'is' (or 'was'), which agrees in number with the singular subject 'Each'.
The sentence subject is the singular indefinite pronoun 'Each'. In standard English grammar rules, 'each' mandates a singular verb form ('is' or 'was') despite being followed by a plural noun phrase ('of the applicants').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical subject of the sentence.
The syntactic subject is the indefinite pronoun 'Each', not the plural noun 'applicants'.
The phrase 'of the applicants' is a prepositional modifier and does not change the singular nature of the subject.
2
Determine the required concord for the subject 'Each'.
'Each' takes a singular verb form.
Distributive indefinite pronouns such as 'each', 'every', and 'neither' grammatically require singular verbs.
3
Select the correct singular auxiliary verb.
'is' (present tense) or 'was' (past tense) correctly completes the sentence.
Both 'is' and 'was' are singular forms that satisfy subject-verb agreement.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Concord ('Each' taking a singular verb)
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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