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Zorluk: OrtaSubject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Which verb form correctly completes the sentence below in accordance with the rules of subject-verb concord?

"Neither the project manager nor the field supervisors _______ informed about the sudden change in schedule."

  1. wereCevap
  2. B
    was
  3. C
    is
  4. D
    has been

Cevap

The correct option is 'were'.
In English grammar, when two subjects are connected by correlative conjunctions such as 'neither... nor' or 'either... or', the verb agrees in number with the subject that is nearest to it in the sentence. Here, 'field supervisors' is a plural noun phrase adjacent to the verb blank, so it requires the plural past tense verb 'were'.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the conjunction structure and subject components in the sentence.
The sentence uses the correlative conjunction pair 'neither... nor' connecting two subjects: 'the project manager' (singular) and 'the field supervisors' (plural).
Correlative conjunctions like 'either... or' and 'neither... nor' follow specific proximity agreement rules.
2
Apply the rule of proximity concord for correlative conjunctions.
The verb must agree in person and number with the subject noun phrase closest to the blank, which is 'the field supervisors' (plural).
In 'neither A nor B' constructions, the subject closer to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural.
3
Select the correct plural past tense verb form.
The plural past tense verb form required is 'were'.
'Were' correctly satisfies plural agreement with 'field supervisors'.

Anahtar Kavram

Rule of Proximity in Subject-Verb Agreement (Correlative Conjunctions)
Bu soruyu puanla

Konular

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Bu konudan daha fazla soru