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Question

Difficulty: Very hardSubject-Verb Agreement

In the study of cognitive development, researchers often struggle to isolate innate cognitive structures from learned behaviors. The nuanced depiction of infants' spatial reasoning abilities, which frequently relies on gaze-duration metrics rather than active physical engagement with their surroundings, ________ to suggest that primitive conceptual frameworks for geometry are present far earlier in human development than previously assumed.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  1. A
    appear
  2. appearsAnswer
  3. C
    appearing
  4. D
    have appeared

Answer

appears
The singular verb 'appears' is correct because it matches the singular subject 'depiction'. The noun 'depiction' is the head of the subject noun phrase, and the intervening modifiers (such as 'of infants' spatial reasoning abilities' and 'which frequently relies on gaze-duration metrics') do not affect its grammatical number.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical subject of the clause containing the blank.
The subject is the singular noun phrase 'The nuanced depiction'.
Determining the subject is necessary to establish the correct grammatical number (singular or plural) for the verb.
2
Analyze intervening phrases and clauses to avoid distractor nouns.
The prepositional phrase 'of infants' spatial reasoning abilities' and the relative clause 'which frequently relies on gaze-duration metrics rather than active physical engagement with their surroundings' contain plural nouns ('abilities', 'metrics', 'surroundings') but do not change the singular nature of the true subject.
Intervening elements often contain nouns of a different number than the subject, which can mislead readers into making agreement errors.
3
Select the verb form that agrees with the singular subject and completes the sentence grammatically.
The singular present-tense verb 'appears' correctly agrees with the singular subject 'depiction' and forms a complete, grammatically sound sentence.
A singular subject requires a singular finite verb to conform to the conventions of Standard English.

Key Concept

Subject-Verb Agreement
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Subject-Verb Agreement

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