Question 130·Easy·Form, Structure, and Sense
Each of the student volunteers plans, plants, and maintains garden plots throughout the season. To stay on schedule, the organizers post weekly task lists on the garden’s bulletin board. Completing just one task from the list ______ volunteers feel more invested in the project.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For subject–verb agreement questions, first ignore prepositional phrases and modifiers to find the core subject of the verb near the blank; especially watch for gerund phrases (verb+ing used as nouns), which are treated as singular. Then decide whether the sentence is stating a general truth (simple present), a past action, or something ongoing, and pick the verb form that matches both the subject’s number (singular/plural) and the sentence’s time frame. Finally, read the full sentence with your chosen option to check that it sounds natural and logical.
Hints
Locate the subject of the blank
Cover the blank and ask yourself: what is doing the action that leads to volunteers feeling more invested? Is it “volunteers,” or something else earlier in the sentence?
Check singular vs. plural
Once you know what the subject is, decide whether it is singular or plural. Then look for the verb form that matches that number (singular or plural).
Think about time and habit
Is the sentence describing something that happens regularly as part of the process, something that already happened, or something happening right now? Choose the verb tense that fits that idea.
Step-by-step Explanation
See what kind of word is missing
The blank comes right after “list” and before “volunteers,” so the missing word must be a verb that connects the subject to what happens: “Completing just one task from the list ___ volunteers feel more invested in the project.”
Identify the true subject of the verb
Ask: What causes volunteers to feel more invested? The answer is the entire phrase “Completing just one task from the list.” This is a gerund phrase (a verb + -ing acting as a noun). Gerund phrases that act as subjects are treated as singular in English.
Decide on the correct tense and agreement
The sentence is making a general statement about what usually happens during the season, not about a specific time in the past or something ongoing right now. That means it should use simple present tense. We also know the subject is singular, so we need the third-person singular form of the verb in simple present (the form that typically ends in -s).
Match the correct verb form to the subject
Among the choices, only “helps” is both simple present and third-person singular, so the completed sentence should read: “Completing just one task from the list helps volunteers feel more invested in the project.”