Multiple choice

Directions: The question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

Neither the board of members nor the chairman of the company were quite sure of how to tackle the financial setback that the company was facing.

  1. were quite sure of how to tackle the financial setback that the company was facing.

  2. was quite sure of how to tackle the financial setback that the company was facing.

  3. were quite sure of how to tackle the financial setback that the company were facing.

  4. was quite sure of how to tackle the financial setback that the company were facing.

  5. was quite sure of how to tackle the financial setback that the company is facing.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Option (2) is grammatically the most correct option. Option (1) and (3) are incorrect because both the subjects (‘board of members’ and ‘chairman’) are singular and hence, a singular helping verb (was) should be used. (4) is incorrect because wrong helping verb (were) is used with a singular noun (company). (5) is incorrect because present tense’s helping verb (is) is used along with past tense’s helping verb (was).

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