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Question

Difficulty: HardSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Which auxiliary verb forms correctly complete the sentence below to maintain proper subject-verb concord?

Answer:During yesterday's proceedings, neither the chief magistrate nor the judicial officers 【were】 present while the panel of experts 【was】 presenting its findings.

Answer

The first blank requires 'were' and the second blank requires 'was'.
For the first blank, proximity concord dictates that when two subjects are connected by 'neither... nor', the verb agrees with the subject nearest to it ('judicial officers', which is plural), requiring 'were'. For the second blank, the subject head is the collective noun 'panel', which acts as a single entity (indicated by the singular reference 'its findings'), requiring the singular verb 'was'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the subject structure for the first blank governed by correlative conjunctions.
The subject is connected by 'neither... nor' featuring a singular noun ('the chief magistrate') and a plural noun ('the judicial officers').
Under the rule of proximity concord, when subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb must agree in number with the subject closest to it. Since 'judicial officers' is plural and the past tense context is established ('yesterday's proceedings'), the correct plural past auxiliary is 'were'.
2
Analyze the collective noun subject for the second blank.
The subject is 'the panel of experts'.
Although 'experts' is plural, it functions as a prepositional modifier to the collective noun head 'panel'. The collective noun acts as a unified singular body performing a single collective action ('presenting its findings', reinforced by the singular possessive pronoun 'its'). Therefore, it requires the singular past auxiliary verb 'was'.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement involving Proximity Concord and Collective Nouns
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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