A verb agreement question tests whether a verb matches its subject when extra nouns or a joining word get in the way. Sort the verb forms into singular for one thing and plural for more than one. Then cross out describing phrases to find the subjects themselves. With neither ... nor, the verb matches the nearer subject, which you can replace with it or they to check. The nearest noun may belong to a phrase rather than be the subject.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the words joined by neither ... nor. Find the main noun in each half of the subject.
- Hint 2
What is the phrase beginning with of doing in each half? Separate the noun it describes from the nouns inside it.
- Hint 3
With neither ... nor, the verb matches the nearer subject. Try it or they in place of that subject to decide which number the verb needs.
Step-by-step
Find the true subject
Step 1Sort the verb forms by number
The choices use forms of diminish, so sort them by number, not tense. The forms have diminished, diminish, and were diminishing take plural subjects: they have diminished, they diminish, and they were diminishing. We’re testing subject-verb agreement, which means the verb must match whether its subject is one thing or more than one. What is the subject of the verb before the core allure of traditional cinema?
- Step 2
Find the noun that controls the verb
Which noun controls the verb when the subject uses neither ... nor? Unlike and, which makes two subjects plural, nor tells us to match the nearer subject, so start with nor the emergence. The phrase of virtual-reality headsets tells us what emerged; it doesn't make headsets the subject. Cross it out and we're left with emergence, the arrival of something, which is one thing. The earlier phrase of low-cost streaming devices works the same way: it describes proliferation, the spread of something, rather than making devices a subject. The nearer subject is emergence, not headsets.
- Step 3
Match the singular subject
Replace the emergence with it and test the verb. Which helper matches that short subject? We say it has diminished, so the singular helper has agrees with it; diminished stays the same whether the subject is singular or plural. The choice has diminished completes the sentence with that singular verb. Choice B.