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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Every one of the research assistants who _____ working on the environmental survey _____ required to submit an independent summary. Which of the options correctly completes the sentence?

  1. are / isAnswer
  2. B
    is / is
  3. C
    are / are
  4. D
    is / are

Answer

The option containing 'are / is' correctly satisfies both subject-verb agreement rules.
The sentence contains two distinct clauses with separate concord requirements. In the subordinate relative clause, 'who' takes the plural verb 'are' because its antecedent is the plural noun 'research assistants'. In the main clause, the head subject is the singular indefinite pronoun 'Every one', which governs the singular main verb 'is'. The pair 'are / is' correctly satisfies both requirements.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the subject and verb agreement for the relative clause: 'who _____ working on the environmental survey'
The relative pronoun 'who' refers directly to the plural noun antecedent 'research assistants'. Therefore, the relative clause requires a plural verb form ('are').
A relative pronoun agrees in number with its antecedent noun.
2
Analyze the main clause subject and its corresponding verb: 'Every one ... _____ required to submit...'
The head of the main clause subject is the indefinite pronoun 'Every one', which is grammatically singular and requires the singular verb form ('is').
Indefinite pronouns such as 'each', 'every one', and 'either' take singular verbs regardless of intervening plural prepositional phrases.
3
Combine the results to select the matching pair
The first blank requires 'are' and the second blank requires 'is', yielding 'are / is'.
Only this combination satisfies both relative clause antecedent concord and main clause indefinite pronoun concord.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement with Indefinite Pronouns and Relative Clause Antecedents
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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