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Difficulty: Very hardSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Which of the options correctly completes the sentence below?

"Neither the senior logistics officers nor the chief coordinator, despite the numerous objections raised by the union representatives during yesterday's session, _______ that any of the revised policies needs immediate implementation."

  1. believesAnswer
  2. B
    believe
  3. C
    are believing
  4. D
    have believed

Answer

The correct option is 'believes' because the verb must agree in number with the nearer subject ('the chief coordinator').
When subjects are connected by correlative conjunctions such as 'neither... nor', the rule of proximity dictates that the verb must agree in person and number with the nearest subject. Here, the noun phrase closest to the verb position is 'the chief coordinator', which is singular. Therefore, the singular verb form 'believes' is grammatically correct. Intervening elements such as 'union representatives' inside prepositional phrases do not affect subject-verb concord.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical rule governing subjects joined by 'neither... nor'.
Correlative conjunctions ('neither... nor') follow the rule of proximity concord, where the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.
The compound structure splits the subjects into 'the senior logistics officers' (plural) and 'the chief coordinator' (singular).
2
Determine which subject noun phrase is closest to the verb slot.
'the chief coordinator' is the subject noun phrase closest to the blank.
The prepositional parenthetical phrase ('despite the numerous objections...') does not alter the head grammatical subject.
3
Select the verb form that agrees with the singular noun phrase 'the chief coordinator'.
The singular third-person present tense verb 'believes' is required.
'Chief coordinator' is singular, so it takes the singular inflection ending in '-s'.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement (Proximity Concord with Correlative Conjunctions)
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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