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Question

Difficulty: HardSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Which of the following verb forms correctly completes the sentence below?

'Accompanied by her senior legal advisers, neither of the lead prosecutors _____ present in court when the verdict was delivered.'

  1. wasAnswer
  2. B
    were
  3. C
    are
  4. D
    have been

Answer

was
The correct option 'was' satisfies subject-verb agreement because the true grammatical head of the subject is the singular indefinite pronoun 'neither'. Intervening prepositional phrases ('of the lead prosecutors') and parenthetical modifiers ('Accompanied by her senior legal advisers') do not affect the singular number of the head subject, requiring the singular past verb form 'was'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the syntactic subject of the main clause.
The grammatical subject is the indefinite pronoun 'neither'. The phrase 'of the lead prosecutors' is a prepositional post-modifier.
Prepositional phrases following indefinite pronouns do not change the singular nature of the head subject.
2
Analyze surrounding parenthetical modifiers and past context.
The introductory participial phrase 'Accompanied by her senior legal advisers' is non-restrictive parenthetical material, and 'was delivered' sets a past-tense time frame.
Parenthetical expressions attached with 'accompanied by' do not pluralize the main subject.
3
Select the verb that satisfies singular subject-verb concord and tense consistency.
The singular simple past verb 'was' correctly completes the sentence.
It maintains agreement with singular 'neither' in a past narrative context.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Concord with Intervening Plural Modifiers
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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