Executive PrepLab · V5 Practice · Axis 1

Subject–verb agreement

Three layers, in order. Layer 1 isolates the decision with nothing else in the way. Layer 2 hides it inside a full item, the way the exam does. Layer 3 reads your errors back to you and says what to repeat.

Work them in sequence — the diagnosis at the end only means something if you have your Layer 2 results in front of you.

Layer 1

Isolated drills

Layer 1 · 10 drills

For each sentence, identify the subject, then choose the verb. Write the subject down — the act of naming it is the skill.

D1. The list of approved contractors been revised twice this year.

D2. Neither the curator nor the conservators available for comment.

D3. A number of the samples contaminated during transport.

D4. The number of applicants who withdrew before the deadline higher than expected.

D5. Along the northern ridge a series of shallow trenches.

D6. Each of the three proposals submitted by the working group board approval.

D7. The committee, together with its two subcommittees, on the first Tuesday of each month.

D8. Neither of the two remaining candidates served on a board before.

D9. Twenty years a long time to wait for a verdict.

D10. The data from the three trials a modest effect.

The full answers — subject, verb and why — are in Model answers below, as one block. Work the set as a run before you open it.

	Subject	Verb	Why
D1	list	has	of approved contractors is a prepositional phrase; a subject is never inside one
D2	curator / conservators	were	neither…nor takes the nearer subject, which is plural
D3	samples	were	a number of is plural — it means "several"
D4	number	was	the number of is singular — it names a quantity
D5	series	runs	inverted sentence; the subject follows the verb, and series is singular
D6	each	requires	each is always singular, however long the phrase after it
D7	committee	meets	together with does not create a compound subject; also a collective noun
D8	neither	has	neither alone (without nor) is singular
D9	twenty years	is	a period treated as a single unit takes a singular verb
D10	data	suggest	plural in formal usage; the singular is datum

The pair to memorise: D3 and D4. A number of is plural, the number of is singular, and the exam uses both.

Layer 2

Full items

Now the same decision, buried in a sentence with other things going on. Read the whole sentence, find where the options split, settle one axis at a time.

Item 1

The report on the effects of the new tariffs on regional manufacturers were released on Monday morning.

Strip it: The report … was released. Subject is report, singular. Two prepositional phrases (on the effects, on regional manufacturers) and two plural nouns sit between subject and verb. B is plural and also changes the tense.

Item 2

Each of the six regional offices have submitted its budget for the coming year.

Each is singular, always. The confirmation is inside the sentence: its budget, singular possessive. When a sentence gives you a pronoun that agrees with the subject, use it — it settles the question without any rule.

Item 3

A number of the artefacts recovered from the excavation has been dated to the eighth century.

A number of means "several" and is plural. The verb must be have been. B, C and E are all singular in different disguises; A is the trap the exam sets by putting the singular-looking a number right before the verb.

Item 4

The number of households connected to the fibre network have risen sharply since the subsidy was introduced.

The number of names a single quantity and is singular. Compare against item 3 directly: same words, opposite article, opposite answer. The exam tests this pair more often than any other agreement point.

Item 5

Neither the harbour authority nor the shipping companies operating out of the port was willing to fund the dredging.

Neither … nor agrees with the nearer subject. Here the nearer is companies, plural. Reverse the two — neither the shipping companies nor the harbour authority — and was becomes correct. Nothing about the sentence’s meaning changes; only the order does.

Item 6

Among the documents recovered from the archive was several letters written by the architect during the building’s construction.

Inverted. The subject is several letters, which follows the verb. Rearranged: Several letters … were among the documents. C and E add a redundant relative clause that turns written into a wordier construction with no gain. D inserts there alongside the existing inversion, producing a double subject.

Item 7

The board of trustees, whose members are drawn from four different institutions and who meet only twice a year, have been unable to agree on a successor.

Board is a collective noun, singular. Two long relative clauses intervene, one of which uses who meet — plural, correctly, because it refers to members. That correct plural three words before the underline is the trap: it tunes your ear to plural just as you reach the verb whose subject is board.

Item 8

That the survey’s response rates were low in three of the five districts suggest that its conclusions should be treated cautiously.

The subject is the entire clause That the survey’s response rates were low in three of the five districts, and a clause acting as a subject is singular. Rates is inside the clause, not the subject of the main verb. E adds a second that, which the sentence already has.

Answer as many as you like, then check — it scores what you have answered so far.

Layer 3

Diagnosis

Check your Layer 2 answers against this. The pattern of what you missed matters more than how many.

If you missed	It means	Repeat
1, 7	You agree the verb with the nearest noun rather than the subject	D1, D7
2, 8	You do not recognise inherently singular subjects	D6, D8
3 and 4	You have not fixed the a number / the number pair	D3, D4
5	Neither…nor rule not automatic	D2
6	Inversion not recognised	D5, D9

If you missed three or more: the failure is not the rules, it is that you are not finding the subject. Go back to Layer 1 and, for each drill, write the subject down before choosing. The writing is what forces the identification.