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Difficulty: HardSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Read the sentence below and fill in the blank with a grammatically correct verb form that maintains proper subject-verb agreement.

Answer:Not only the lead investigator but also the forensic analysts, who meticulously inspected the crime scene, 【have concluded】 that the evidence was tampered with prior to their arrival.

Answer

have concluded (or conclude / have asserted / assert)
In sentences linked by correlative conjunctions such as 'not only... but also', the verb must agree in number with the subject nearest to it. The noun phrase closest to the blank is the plural noun 'forensic analysts', so a plural verb form like 'have concluded' or 'conclude' is grammatically required.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the subject structure connected by correlative conjunctions.
The compound subject uses the correlative conjunction pair 'Not only... but also...'.
When subjects are joined by 'not only... but also', the rule of proximity dictates that the verb must agree in number with the subject element closer to it.
2
Identify the noun phrase closest to the verb.
The subject closer to the verb is 'the forensic analysts', which is plural ('the lead investigator' is singular).
The verb must agree with 'analysts' rather than 'investigator'.
3
Account for non-essential intervening clauses and select the verb form.
The relative clause 'who meticulously inspected the crime scene' modifies 'analysts' but does not change its plural status. Therefore, a plural verb form (such as 'have concluded' or 'conclude') is required.
Plural subjects demand plural verb inflections in standard English grammatical concord.

Key Concept

Correlative Proximity Concord (Not only... but also)
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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