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Question

Difficulty: MediumVerbs, Tenses, and Aspect

During the court proceedings, the presiding judge insisted that the defense counsel _______ the confidential documents to the tribunal without delay.

Which option correctly completes the sentence?

  1. submitAnswer
  2. B
    submits
  3. C
    submitted
  4. D
    was submitting

Answer

submit
The verb 'insist' introduces a mandative subjunctive clause. In formal standard English, the mandative subjunctive uses the uninflected base form of the verb ('submit') for all subjects and tenses.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the main verb of the matrix clause and its syntactic requirements.
The main verb is 'insisted', which belongs to the category of verbs expressing demand, command, recommendation, or urgency.
Verbs such as 'insist', 'demand', 'recommend', and 'order' require a 'that'-clause containing a subjunctive verb.
2
Determine the correct verb form for the mandative subjunctive mood.
The mandative subjunctive mandates the bare base form of the verb ('submit') without tense inflection or subject-verb agreement suffixes (-s/-ed).
Subjunctive clauses following verbs of demand remain uninflected regardless of whether the subject is singular, plural, past, or present.

Key Concept

Mandative Subjunctive Mood
Estimated Time:50s
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Topics

Verbs, Tenses, and Aspect

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