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Question

Difficulty: EasySubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Which verb form correctly completes the sentence below in accordance with the rules of subject-verb concord?

Answer:Each of the new recruits 【was】 assigned a dedicated mentor upon arrival at the training camp.

Answer

The singular verb form 'was' (or 'is') is required because the indefinite pronoun 'Each' functions as the singular grammatical subject.
The sentence requires a singular verb because the subject 'Each' is a singular indefinite pronoun. Intervening prepositional phrases containing plural nouns like 'recruits' do not alter the singular agreement requirement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical subject of the sentence
The head subject of the sentence is the indefinite pronoun 'Each'.
The prepositional phrase 'of the new recruits' acts as a modifier and does not determine the number of the subject.
2
Apply the subject-verb agreement rule for distributive indefinite pronouns
A singular subject requires a singular verb form ('was' or 'is').
Indefinite pronouns such as 'each', 'every', and 'either' take singular verbs regardless of any plural nouns in intervening prepositional phrases.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Concord
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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