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Question

Difficulty: MediumConjunctions and Clause Structure

Neither the principal investigator nor the research assistants _______ satisfied with the preliminary laboratory results from the trials conducted last week. Which of the following verb forms correctly completes the clause structure?

  1. wereAnswer
  2. B
    was
  3. C
    is
  4. D
    are

Answer

The correct option is the plural past-tense verb 'were'.
When subjects are connected by the correlative conjunction pair 'neither... nor', the verb must agree in number with the subject closest to it. Here, the noun phrase closest to the blank is 'the research assistants', which is plural. Combined with the past temporal indicator 'last week', the correct plural past-tense verb is required.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the conjunction structure and subjects.
The sentence uses the correlative conjunction pair 'neither... nor' connecting two noun phrases: 'the principal investigator' (singular) and 'the research assistants' (plural).
Correlative conjunctions connecting subjects require specific proximity concord rules.
2
Apply the rule of proximity concord for 'neither... nor'.
The verb must agree with the noun phrase closest to it, which is the plural noun phrase 'the research assistants'.
When subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb takes the number of the closest subject.
3
Determine the correct tense based on sentence context.
The temporal marker 'last week' indicates a completed past event, selecting 'were' rather than present-tense forms.
Verb tense must align with temporal context markers.

Key Concept

Correlative Conjunctions and Proximity Concord
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Topics

Conjunctions and Clause Structure

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