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Difficulty: HardSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by filling in the blanks with the correct present-tense auxiliary verbs that satisfy the rules of concord.

Answer:The lead archivist, accompanied by three research assistants, 【has】 cataloged the rare manuscripts, yet neither the head librarian nor the board members 【are】 prepared to grant public access to the collection.

Answer

The first blank requires 'has' and the second blank requires 'are'.
For the first blank, 'has' is required because the singular head subject 'The lead archivist' governs the verb; modifying phrases introduced by 'accompanied by' do not make the subject plural. For the second blank, 'are' is required because with correlative subjects linked by 'neither... nor', the verb agrees in number with the nearest noun phrase, which is the plural noun 'the board members'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary subject for the first clause and evaluate the effect of the intervening parenthetical phrase.
The core subject is 'The lead archivist' (singular). The phrase 'accompanied by three research assistants' is a quasi-conjunction and does not pluralize the subject.
Expressions such as 'accompanied by', 'as well as', and 'together with' do not form compound subjects; grammatical agreement remains strictly with the head noun.
2
Determine the correct verb for the first blank.
Select the singular auxiliary verb 'has'.
A singular subject ('The lead archivist') requires a singular auxiliary verb ('has').
3
Analyze the subject structure of the second clause connected by correlative conjunctions.
The subjects 'the head librarian' (singular) and 'the board members' (plural) are joined by 'neither... nor'.
When correlative conjunctions connect subjects of differing numbers, the principle of proximity dictates that the verb agrees with the subject closest to it.
4
Determine the correct verb for the second blank.
Select the plural auxiliary verb 'are'.
The subject closest to the verb is 'the board members' (plural), so a plural verb ('are') is required.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord) with Quasi-Conjunctions and the Principle of Proximity
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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