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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Neither of the two foreign investors who inspected the factory site _______ satisfied with the proposed environmental compliance report. Which word correctly fills the blank to maintain proper subject-verb agreement?

  1. A
    were
  2. wasAnswer
  3. C
    are
  4. D
    have

Answer

The singular verb 'was' is the correct choice because the head of the subject is the indefinite pronoun 'Neither', which requires a singular verb.
The sentence requires the singular past-tense verb 'was' because the subject head is the indefinite pronoun 'Neither'. Distributive indefinite pronouns such as 'neither' and 'either' take singular verb forms in standard formal English regardless of plural nouns inside modifying prepositional phrases.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the true grammatical head of the subject phrase
The head of the subject is the indefinite pronoun 'Neither', not the intervening prepositional phrase 'of the two foreign investors'.
In English formal concord, prepositional phrases modifying a head noun or pronoun do not alter the number of the subject head.
2
Apply the subject-verb agreement rule for distributive indefinite pronouns
'Neither' refers to 'not one nor the other' of two entities and takes a singular verb.
Standard grammatical concord dictates that singular indefinite pronouns like 'neither', 'either', and 'each' require singular verbs.
3
Select the correct singular past-tense verb form from the options
'was' is singular and past tense, matching the completed action context of the sentence.
'was' satisfies both the singular number requirement of 'Neither' and the past context of 'inspected'.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Concord (Neither)
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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