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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by filling in the blank with the verb form that correctly satisfies the rules of grammatical concord.

Answer:Not only the lead researcher but also his assistants 【were】 present at the international symposium yesterday to defend their findings.

Answer

The correct verb form to fill the blank is 'were'.
Under the principle of proximity concord, when two subjects are connected by 'not only... but also', the verb agrees in number with the subject closest to it. Here, the plural noun 'assistants' immediately precedes the blank, requiring a plural verb. Combined with the past temporal marker 'yesterday', the past tense plural verb 'were' is grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the conjunction joining the compound subject.
The compound subject is connected by the correlative conjunction 'not only... but also'.
When subjects are joined by correlative conjunctions, the rule of proximity concord applies.
2
Determine the subject closest to the verb slot.
The noun phrase closest to the blank is 'his assistants', which is plural.
Proximity concord dictates that the verb must agree in number with the subject nearest to it rather than the earlier subject.
3
Select the correct tense and number for the verb.
The past time indicator 'yesterday' requires a past tense plural verb, which is 'were'.
The sentence specifies a completed past action, ruling out present tense forms.

Key Concept

Proximity Concord with Correlative Conjunctions
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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