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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Neither the chief architect nor the site engineers _______ able to explain the structural defect discovered during the inspection. Which of the following verb forms correctly completes the sentence?

  1. wereAnswer
  2. B
    was
  3. C
    is
  4. D
    have

Answer

The correct option is 'were'. When subjects are connected by 'neither... nor', the verb must agree in number and person with the noun phrase closest to it (the rule of proximity). Since 'the site engineers' is plural, the plural verb 'were' is required.
The correct option 'were' satisfies the rule of proximity concord. When two subject elements are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb must agree with the element closest to it. Here, 'the site engineers' is plural and closest to the gap, requiring the past-tense plural verb 'were'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the syntactic structure of the sentence.
The sentence uses the correlative conjunction pair 'neither... nor' joining two subjects: 'the chief architect' (singular) and 'the site engineers' (plural).
Correlative subjects governed by 'neither... nor' require proximity concord.
2
Determine which subject dictates verb agreement.
The noun phrase closest to the verb position is 'the site engineers', which is plural.
In proximity concord, the verb agrees strictly with the noun or pronoun nearest to it.
3
Select the verb form that matches the tense and plural number.
The past-tense plural verb 'were' fits grammatically before 'able to explain'.
The event refers to a completed past inspection.

Key Concept

Proximity Concord with Correlative Conjunctions (Either...or / Neither...nor)
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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