Cross out, then read what is left
The verb agrees with the subject. The only reason this is difficult is that test writers push material between them until the reader loses track.
The routine. Find the verb. Ask who or what does this. Then delete, physically or mentally, every prepositional phrase, relative clause, participial phrase and appositive that sits between the answer and the verb, and read the two words that remain side by side.
A series of tremors recorded along the fault in the weeks before the eruptionlargely ignored at the time.
- were
- was
- have been
- being
Strip the interrupters: of tremors is a prepositional phrase, recorded along the fault is a participial phrase, in the weeks before the eruption is another prepositional phrase. What remains is A series… was ignored. Series is the head noun and is singular here. (D) leaves the sentence without a finite verb at all. Answer (B).
Tiếng Việt không chia động từ theo số, nên phản xạ tự nhiên của học sinh là bám vào danh từ gần động từ nhất — và đề thi được thiết kế đúng để khai thác phản xạ đó. Danh từ ngay trước động từ gần như luôn là danh từ sai. Hãy tập thói quen gạch chéo cụm giới từ ngay khi đọc, trước cả khi nhìn bốn phương án.
An of phrase decides nothing — until it does
The noun inside a prepositional phrase is never the subject. But a small closed set of quantity heads hands the decision over to that noun.
Head noun decides, the of phrase is ignored:
a series of, a collection of, the list of, the variety of, the presence of, each of, every
one of, one of, the number of.
The of phrase decides:
a number of, a handful of, a majority of, some of, all of, half of, a percentage of,
X percent of.
The number of confirmed exoplanets orbiting Sun-like starsrisen past five thousand.
- has
- have
- having
- are
The number is a single figure, so it is singular no matter how many exoplanets it counts. (D) also fails on the verb itself: are risen is not an English form. Answer (A).
A number of the manuscripts catalogued in the 1890ssince been lost.
- has
- having
- have
- is
A number of means several — it is a quantifier, not a head noun — so agreement passes to manuscripts, which is plural. The contrast with the previous example is exact and is tested regularly. Answer (C).
The number of và a number of khác nhau đúng một mạo từ nhưng chia động từ ngược nhau: the number là một con số nên số ít; a number of nghĩa là vài, nên theo danh từ đứng sau. Đề rất hay đặt hai câu này gần nhau trong cùng một module.
Phrases that look additive but are not
Only the word and makes a compound subject plural. The following phrases are supplements and change nothing, and they are almost always set off by commas — which is itself the giveaway.
along with, as well as, together with, in addition to, including, accompanied by, rather than, no less than
The director, along with every member of the curatorial staff,opposed to the sale of the drawings.
- are
- were
- being
- is
Delete the material between the commas and the sentence reads The director… opposed to the sale. The subject is singular. (B) is wrong in number as well; (C) is not a finite verb. Answer (D).
Dấu hiệu nhìn thấy được: nếu cụm đó bị kẹp giữa hai dấu phẩy thì nó là phần thêm, và phần thêm không bao giờ tham gia vào chủ ngữ. Ngược lại, and nối chủ ngữ thì không có dấu phẩy kẹp quanh nó. Chỉ cần nhìn dấu là biết cụm đó có được tính hay không.
Correlatives: the nearer subject wins
With either… or, neither… nor, and not only… but also, the verb agrees with whichever subject sits closer to it. Reversing the two halves reverses the answer, and test writers exploit exactly that.
Neither the fossil pollen nor the charcoal fragmentsconsistent with a single fire event.
- is
- was
- are
- being
The subject closer to the verb is fragments, which is plural, so the verb is plural. Had the sentence read Neither the charcoal fragments nor the fossil pollen…, the answer would have been is. Answer (C).
Inversion: the subject comes after the verb
When a sentence opens with there, here, or a fronted prepositional phrase, the subject follows the verb. Agreement still runs to the subject, which now has to be hunted for on the right.
Among the artefacts now on display in the maritime museuma bronze astrolabe engraved with an Arabic inscription.
- are
- is
- were
- being
Among the artefacts… is a prepositional phrase and cannot contain the subject. The subject is a bronze astrolabe, singular, sitting after the verb. The plural artefacts immediately before the blank is the trap. Answer (B).
Ở câu đảo ngữ, danh từ đứng sát chỗ trống nằm bên trái luôn thuộc cụm giới từ, tức luôn không phải chủ ngữ. Nghĩa là ở dạng câu này, danh từ gần nhất không những vô dụng mà còn được đặt ở đó cố ý để đánh lừa. Chủ ngữ nằm bên phải chỗ trống.
Agreement inside a relative clause
The verb in a relative clause agrees with the antecedent of who / which / that, not with the subject of the main clause.
Rosalind Franklin was one of the few crystallographers whoable to produce images of that quality.
- was
- is
- has been
- were
Ask what who stands for: not Franklin, but the few crystallographers — the group she belonged to. Several people were able to produce such images; she was one of them. The antecedent is plural. Answer (D).
Subjects that stay singular however plural they look
Measuring the tiny shifts in a star's spectruminstruments stable to one part in a billion.
- requires
- require
- requiring
- have required
The subject is the gerund phrase Measuring the tiny shifts…, and a gerund phrase is always singular however many nouns it contains. Shifts and spectrum are both inside the phrase and neither is the subject. Answer (A).
Ba loại chủ ngữ luôn số ít dù trông có vẻ nhiều: cụm danh động từ (Measuring…), mệnh đề danh ngữ mở đầu bằng What (What remains…), và cụm chỉ lượng được coi là một khối (Two hundred kilometres is a long way). Nhận mặt được ba loại này là gỡ được phần lớn câu tầng cao của nhóm bài.