Neither the professor nor his assistants _ able to solve the mystery of the eerie glow in the laboratory.
Correct answer: C. Were
- A. Is
- B. Was
- C. Were
- D. Be
Explanation
'Is' is used when the noun is singular, which is incorrect in this case as 'assistants' is plural. 'Was' is a past tense indicative form of 'be', meaning "to exist or live," and is used in the first person singular (I) and the third person singular (he/she/it). It is used as the past indicative when one is talking about reality and known facts. 'Be' is commonly used in joining a subject to its complement. As a main verb, 'be' is used to talk about feelings and states. 'Were' is used in the second person singular and plural (you, your, yours) and first and third person plural (we, they). As the sentence is in the third person plural (talking about the professor and assistant and as "assistants" used) hence 'were' is correct.
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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.
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