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Difficulty: MediumConjunctions and Clause Structure

Which of the following options correctly completes the sentence below?

"The Chief Executive Officer, together with all the regional division heads who ______ recently appointed by the board, ______ expected to attend the strategic retreat."

  1. were / isAnswer
  2. B
    were / are
  3. C
    was / are
  4. D
    was / is

Answer

The correct option is 'were / is'.
The relative pronoun 'who' introduces a subordinate relative clause that modifies the plural noun phrase 'regional division heads', requiring the plural past-tense verb 'were'. Meanwhile, the principal subject of the main clause is 'The Chief Executive Officer', which remains singular because parenthetical additive expressions such as 'together with...' do not alter the grammatical number of the subject. Thus, the main clause predicate requires the singular verb 'is'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the relative clause structure and identify its antecedent.
The relative clause 'who ______ recently appointed by the board' modifies the plural noun phrase 'regional division heads'.
Relative pronouns take the number of their antecedent; since 'heads' is plural, the relative clause requires a plural verb ('were').
2
Identify the primary subject of the main clause and determine its grammatical number.
The main subject is 'The Chief Executive Officer', which is singular.
Prepositional or quasi-conjunction phrases like 'together with all the regional division heads' are additive parenthetical expressions and do not make the subject plural.
3
Select the verb pair that satisfies both clause agreement rules.
The correct verb pair is 'were' for the subordinate relative clause and 'is' for the main clause.
Combining plural agreement for the relative clause and singular agreement for the main clause yields 'were / is'.

Key Concept

Clause structure agreement and subject-verb concord across relative clauses and parenthetical additive phrases
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Conjunctions and Clause Structure

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