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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Select the pair of verb forms that correctly completes the sentence below according to the rules of subject-verb agreement:

'Not only the lead researcher but also his assistants _______ committed to publishing the report, although neither of the sponsor organizations _______ willing to fund the follow-up study.'

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

Answer

The pair 'are / is' correctly completes the sentence.
The option containing 'are / is' accurately satisfies both concord rules present in the sentence. First, when subject nouns are joined by 'not only ... but also', proximity concord dictates that the verb agrees with the subject nearest to it ('his assistants' -> plural verb 'are'). Second, the indefinite pronoun 'neither' functions as a singular subject, requiring the singular verb form 'is' regardless of the plural noun 'sponsor organizations' within the modifying prepositional phrase.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the first clause containing the correlated conjunction 'Not only ... but also ...'
Under the principle of proximity concord, when subjects are connected by 'not only ... but also', the verb agrees in number with the noun subject closest to it. Here, 'his assistants' (plural) is closest to the verb, requiring the plural verb 'are'.
Correlated conjunctions require the verb to match the nearest subject element.
2
Analyze the second clause containing the structure 'neither of the sponsor organizations'
The head of the noun phrase is the indefinite pronoun 'neither', which is grammatically singular. The plural noun 'sponsor organizations' is inside a prepositional phrase modifier and does not govern the verb, so the singular verb 'is' is required.
Indefinite pronouns such as 'neither' take singular verbs regardless of intervening plural complement phrases.

Key Concept

Proximity concord with correlated subjects and singular agreement with indefinite pronouns
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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