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Question

Difficulty: EasySubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct form of the verb in parentheses to satisfy the rules of subject-verb concord.

Answer:Neither the classroom teacher nor the students 【were】 satisfied with the recent exam schedule.

Answer

were (or are)
The blank requires a plural verb form ('were' or 'are') because when two subject elements are joined by 'neither... nor', grammatical concord dictates that the verb agrees with the noun phrase nearest to it. Since 'the students' is plural and sits adjacent to the verb slot, the verb must be plural.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the compound subject structure.
The subject components are 'the classroom teacher' (singular) and 'the students' (plural), joined by the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor'.
Correlative conjunctions like 'neither... nor' require applying the rule of proximity concord.
2
Determine which subject element is closer to the verb.
The plural noun phrase 'the students' is positioned closest to the blank space.
According to the principle of proximity concord, when subjects of different numbers are connected by 'neither... nor', the verb must agree in number with the subject noun phrase nearest to it.
3
Select the matching plural verb form.
The plural verb 'were' (or 'are') agrees with 'the students'.
A plural subject noun nearest to the verb slot mandates a plural verb form.

Key Concept

Proximity Concord
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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