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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Fill in the blank with the appropriate form of the verb to ensure grammatical subject-verb concord in the given sentence.

Answer:The panel of judges 【were】 divided in their individual assessments of the contestant's performance.

Answer

were
In English concord, when a collective noun refers to individuals acting separately or expressing differing opinions (as highlighted by 'divided' and 'their'), it functions as a noun of multitude and requires a plural verb. Therefore, 'were' is the correct verb form.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the subject and the contextual clues in the sentence.
The subject is the collective noun 'panel of judges', and the sentence includes the plural possessive pronoun 'their'.
The word 'their' indicates that the members of the panel are acting individually rather than as a single unified entity.
2
Apply the rule of concord governing collective nouns.
When members of a collective noun act individually or are divided in opinion, a plural verb is required.
Collective nouns take plural verbs when the focus is on individual members operating separately.
3
Select the correct plural past-tense verb.
'were' correctly completes the sentence.
'were' provides proper agreement with the plural concept of divided individual members.

Key Concept

Nouns of Multitude / Collective Noun Concord
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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