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Question

Difficulty: MediumSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct form of the auxiliary verb that maintains proper subject-verb agreement.

Answer:Neither the financial controller nor the chief executive officers 【were】 present at the emergency board meeting yesterday.

Answer

The correct verb form to complete the blank is 'were'.
In English grammar, when two subjects are connected by 'neither... nor...', the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. Because 'the chief executive officers' is plural and the event took place in the past ('yesterday'), the plural past-tense verb 'were' is grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structural pattern of the sentence
The sentence connects two subjects using the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor...': 'the financial controller' (singular) and 'the chief executive officers' (plural).
Identifying the conjunction type dictates which concord rule governs the verb agreement.
2
Apply the rule of proximity concord
Under proximity concord, when subjects are joined by 'neither... nor...', the verb must agree in person and number with the subject closest to it.
The subject nearest to the verb slot is 'the chief executive officers', which is plural.
3
Determine tense and select the correct verb form
The time marker 'yesterday' indicates simple past tense. The plural past-tense auxiliary verb required is 'were'.
The verb must simultaneously satisfy proximity agreement (plural) and tense agreement (past).

Key Concept

Proximity Concord with Correlative Conjunctions
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

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