Multiple choice

Directions: This 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 council members nor the mayor take responsibility for the passage of the controversial bill.

  1. Neither the council members nor the mayor take

  2. Neither the council members nor the mayors take

  3. Neither the council members take nor the mayor takes

  4. Neither the mayor nor the council members takes

  5. Neither the council members nor the mayor takes

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
E Correct answer
Explanation

Neither, nor decide the pronoun and verb in accordance with the last noun that is 'the mayor' in this sentence. As the mayor is singular, it should be followed by 'takes' and not 'take'.