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Difficulty: HardSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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

Answer:Many a seasoned diplomat and foreign policy analyst 【has】 argued that economic sanctions alone rarely deter authoritarian regimes.

Answer

has
The correct verb is 'has'. In formal English grammatical concord, the idiom 'Many a' is followed by singular noun forms and strictly takes a singular verb. Even though 'diplomat' and 'policy analyst' are joined by 'and', the distributive nature of 'Many a' requires singular agreement, making 'has' the only grammatically correct auxiliary verb.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the subject structure of the sentence.
The sentence begins with the modifier 'Many a', followed by the singular nouns 'diplomat' and 'policy analyst' linked by the coordinating conjunction 'and'.
Identifying the central quantifier governing the subject phrase is required to determine grammatical number.
2
Apply the rule of concord governing the expression 'Many a'.
The grammatical construction 'Many a + singular noun' strictly mandates a singular verb, even when compound singular nouns are joined by 'and'.
The expression 'Many a' distributes the meaning to individual entities one at a time, overriding the standard plural rule for compound subjects.
3
Select the appropriate singular auxiliary verb.
The singular present-perfect auxiliary verb 'has' correctly precedes the past participle 'argued'.
'Has' provides both the correct singular agreement and the appropriate present-perfect tense required by the sentence context.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Distributive Modifiers ('Many a')
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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