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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Neither of the two accountants who were shortlisted for the managerial post ______ able to satisfy the board of directors during yesterday's interview. Which option correctly completes the sentence?

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

Answer

was
The sentence requires a singular past-tense verb to agree with the singular head subject 'Neither'. Although the noun phrase 'the two accountants' and the relative verb 'were shortlisted' are plural, modifier elements do not change the singular concord requirement of 'Neither'. Therefore, the singular past-tense verb 'was' is the correct choice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the head subject of the sentence.
The head subject is the singular indefinite pronoun 'Neither'.
Prepositional phrases like 'of the two accountants' and relative clauses like 'who were shortlisted...' modify the head subject but do not alter its grammatical number.
2
Determine the required number and tense for the main verb.
The verb must be singular in number and past in tense.
The head subject 'Neither' requires a singular verb, and the temporal modifier 'yesterday's interview' requires past tense.
3
Select the option that meets both agreement and tense requirements.
The word 'was' is selected.
'Was' is the singular past-tense form of the verb 'to be'.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Concord
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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