The committee that will decide the next president of the school board meet tomorrow evening at seven o'clock.
Question for Practice Reading Comprehension - 4
Try yourself:What change should be made to correct the problem of subject-verb agreement?
Explanation
In the sentence, the subject is "committee," which is a collective noun that identifies a group of individuals. Because the "committee" acts as a single unit, the subject is singular. Therefore, it must agree with the singular verb "meets."
In the correct sentence, the subjects "price" and "location" are joined by "and," which makes the complete subject plural. Therefore, the correct verb is "depend." Compound subjects that are followed by "each" or "every" take a plural verb, but compound subjects that are preceded by "each" or "every" usually take a singular verb. The indefinite pronoun "both" is plural because it refers to more than one thing, so it takes a plural verb.
"Each one" is the subject of the sentence, and it requires a singular verb.
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Passage - 2
(1) Clouds are great predictors of weather if one can recognize and distinguish between their different shapes and sizes. (2) For the most, all clouds consist of the same basic ingredient, which is moisture in the form of condensed water vapor that clings to microscopic airborne particles like dust. (3) Most varieties of clouds typically form and remains in either the lower, middle, or upper atmosphere. (4) The white and puffy cumulus clouds, what one might identify as a "standard cloud," are low altitude clouds that signal fair weather. (5) Stratus clouds, which tends to look more ominous and threatening, stretch horizontally covering the sky. (6) Serious precipitation, however, rarely _______ from these clouds, but they do produce light rain and drizzle. (7) A nimbostratus cloud is a middle altitude cloud that appear as a huge dark gray cloud covering most of the sky. (8) Typically associated with these clouds are strong winds, steady rains, and heavy snowstorms. (9) Cirrus clouds _______ in high altitudes and _______ from tiny ice crystals, which appear as thin streaks across the sky. (10) These streaks of icy mist _______ no noticeable precipitation but often _______ bad weather to follow. (11) The most ominous clouds of all is the cumulonimbus, also known as a thunderhead, which forms in the lower altitude and then stretches to the upper atmosphere where it flattens out like an anvil. (12) Damage in the form of wind, hail, lightning, and tornadoes are common effects associated with these clouds.
Question for Practice Reading Comprehension - 4
Try yourself:Choose the correct verb for sentence 6.
Explanation
The subject of sentence 6 is "precipitation," which is singular. Therefore, the singular verb "develops" is the correct choice because it agrees with the subject.
Compound subjects that are preceded by the adjectives "each" or "every" usually take verbs that are singular. In the sentence with the incorrect subject-verb agreement, the plural verb "have" should be changed to the singular form "has" because the compound subject "man, woman, and child" is preceded by the adjective "every."
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Question for Practice Reading Comprehension - 4
Try yourself:Which of the following correctly fills in the verbs in sentence 9?
Explanation
The sentence contains a plural subject ("Cirrus clouds") and a compound verb. To agree with the subject, both verbs must be in the plural form. Therefore, "exist" and "form" are the correct answers.
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Question for Practice Reading Comprehension - 4
Try yourself:Choose the correct complete subject for the sentence below.
Q. ______ observes silently while the doings of the night transpire below.
Explanation
The choice "A parliament of owls" is the only subject that works with the singular verb "observes." In the phrase, "parliament" (a term used to describe a group of owls) is the subject. The phrase "of owls" is a prepositional phrase that modifies "parliament." Prepositional phrases never serve as subjects of a sentence.
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Question for Practice Reading Comprehension - 4
Try yourself:What change should be made to correct the problem of subject-verb agreement?
Explanation
The subject of the sentence is "Damage," which is a singular noun. The prepositional phrases "in the form" and "of wind, hail, lightning, and tornadoes" function as modifiers in the sentence. Therefore, the plural verb "are" should take the singular form "is" to read "is a common effect."
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Question for Practice Reading Comprehension - 4
Try yourself:In which of the following sentences do the subject and verb agree?
Explanation
The subject of this sentence is "paintings"; therefore, it requires a plural verb. The verb that agrees with "paintings" is "are."
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Question for Practice Reading Comprehension - 4
Try yourself:How should sentence 7 be revised for correct subject-verb agreement?
Explanation
Sentence 7 as it appears in the passage contains a subject-verb error in the dependent clause that begins with "that." Relative pronouns such as "who," "which," and "that" can function as subjects in a dependent clause, yet they also refer to another word in the sentence, called the antecedent. In this sentence, "that" refers to the antecedent "middle altitude cloud," which is the singular subject of the sentence. Therefore, the verb that follows "that" must agree with the singular subject "cloud." The plural verb "appear" should be written as the singular verb "appears."