Choose the correct option:
Correct answer: B. There was a doctor and a crew of nurses in the emergency room with me during my surgery.
- A. There were a doctor and a crew of nurses in the emergency room with me during my surgery.
- B. There was a doctor and a crew of nurses in the emergency room with me during my surgery.
- C. There have a doctor and a crew of nurses in the emergency room with me during my surgery.
- D. There is a doctor and a crew of nurses in the emergency room with me during my surgery.
Explanation
The correct answer is Option B: 'There was a doctor and a crew of nurses in the emergency room with me during my surgery.' In this sentence, while 'crew of nurses' is plural, the use of 'was' is appropriate because it agrees with the dominant singular subject 'a doctor'. In contrast, Options A, C, and D are incorrect because they use either plural verbs or present tense verbs that do not fit the past tense context of the sentence. Option A incorrectly uses 'were', which does not agree with the singular subject 'doctor', while Options C and D use 'have' and 'is', which are not suitable for past events.
Last updated
About Subject-Verb Agreement
Subject-verb agreement requires the verb to match the true subject in number and person, even when other words intervene. Questions cover collective nouns, compound subjects, indefinite pronouns, either and neither, relative clauses, quantities and inverted sentences, where proximity can falsely suggest the wrong verb.
Practise Grammar
6,178 free Grammar MCQs from English, each with the correct answer and an explanation. Unlimited attempts, no account needed.
Exams that ask English questions like this
English is on 83 papers prepared for on TestUstad, and all of them draw the same bank, so this question is worth knowing for every one of them.