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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Which option correctly completes the sentence below in accordance with standard grammatical concord?

'A detailed breakdown of the quarterly expenses, along with various supporting receipts and invoices, _______ submitted to the internal auditors yesterday.'

  1. wasAnswer
  2. B
    were
  3. C
    are
  4. D
    have been

Answer

The correct form to fill the blank is 'was'.
The head noun of the subject clause is 'breakdown', which is singular. Phrases introduced by 'along with' are prepositional modifiers and do not join subjects conjunctively like 'and' does. Therefore, the singular verb 'was' is required to agree with 'breakdown' in the past tense.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the true grammatical subject of the sentence.
The subject noun phrase is 'A detailed breakdown of the quarterly expenses', where the head noun is the singular noun 'breakdown'.
Prepositional phrases like 'of the quarterly expenses' modify the head noun but do not change its singular number.
2
Evaluate the effect of quasi-conjunctions/parenthetical phrases.
The phrase 'along with various supporting receipts and invoices' is parenthetical and grammatically isolated from the main subject.
Expressions introduced by 'along with', 'together with', 'as well as', or 'accompanied by' do not form a compound subject.
3
Select the verb form that agrees in number and tense.
The singular subject 'breakdown' requires a singular verb. The adverb 'yesterday' specifies a completed past action, demanding 'was'.
Subject-verb concord requires singular subjects to pair with singular verbs.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Parenthetical Phrases (As well as / Along with)
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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