Fill in the blank with the correct past tense form of the verb given in the bracket: 'Neither Rohan nor his friends _____ (be) present at the meeting yesterday.'
Answer
were
The correct answer is were — Use the past tense plural form of 'be', which is 'were'.
Step-by-step solution
- Identify the subjects joined by 'neither... nor', which are 'Rohan' (singular) and 'his friends' (plural).
- Apply the rule of proximity for 'either... or' and 'neither... nor': the verb agrees in number and person with the subject closest to it.
- The subject closest to the blank is 'his friends', which is plural.
- Determine the required tense from the word 'yesterday', which indicates past tense.
- Use the past tense plural form of 'be', which is 'were'.
Common mistake: Using a singular verb 'was' because 'Rohan' comes first in the sentence.
Concept tested: Correlative conjunctions 'neither... nor' subject agreement
Published · How this solution was prepared and checked
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