Examkin

Question

Difficulty: EasySubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Subject-verb agreement requires the verb to agree in number with its grammatical subject. Which verb form correctly completes the sentence below?

Answer:Neither the principal nor the teachers 【were】 present at the emergency meeting.

Answer

The correct verb form to fill in the blank is 'were'.
When subjects are joined by correlative conjunctions such as 'neither... nor', the rule of proximity dictates that the verb must agree with the subject closest to it. Because the plural noun 'teachers' is immediately adjacent to the verb position, the plural past tense verb 'were' is grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the compound subjects joined by the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor'.
The subjects are 'the principal' (singular) and 'the teachers' (plural).
When subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the principle of proximity applies.
2
Determine which subject is closest to the verb position.
'the teachers' is nearest to the blank.
Under the rule of proximity, the verb must agree with the subject closest to it.
3
Select the past tense verb form that matches the plural subject 'the teachers'.
'were'
'were' is the plural past tense verb form that correctly agrees with 'teachers'.

Key Concept

Proximity Concord with Correlative Conjunctions
Rate this question

Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

More questions from this topic