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Difficulty: EasySubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

In the sentence below, a gap is left to test subject-verb agreement:

"The principal, together with the class teachers, ______ present at the annual school inter-house sports competition."

Which verb form correctly completes the sentence?

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

Answer

The singular verb 'was' correctly completes the sentence.
When a singular head subject is followed by quasi-conjunctions or prepositional phrases such as 'together with', 'along with', or 'in addition to', the grammatical number of the subject remains singular. Therefore, the singular past-tense verb 'was' is the only correct choice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the head noun of the grammatical subject.
The main subject is 'The principal', which is singular.
Phrases introduced by 'together with', 'along with', or 'as well as' are prepositional modifiers, not conjunctions, so they do not make the subject plural.
2
Match the verb number with the singular head noun in the past tense.
The singular verb 'was' agrees grammatically with 'The principal'.
A singular head subject demands a singular verb regardless of any plural nouns appearing inside intervening parenthetical phrases.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Concord with Intervening Prepositional Expressions ('together with')
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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