According to the archivist's current catalog, neither the details in the newly discovered letters nor the conclusion that the historian draws from them _____ consistent with the evidence presented elsewhere.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For agreement questions involving “either ... or” or “neither ... nor,” identify the head noun of each subject and determine the number of the subject closest to the verb. Ignore nouns and pronouns inside modifying phrases or relative clauses, since those words do not control the main verb’s number.
Hints
Locate the paired subjects
Identify the two subject phrases connected by “neither” and “nor.”
Focus on the nearer subject
When the subjects in a “neither ... nor” construction differ in number, consider which subject is closer to the verb.
Set aside the relative clause
Do not mistake a noun or pronoun inside “that the historian draws from them” for the head of the nearer subject.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the complete subject
The sentence has two subjects joined by the correlative conjunctions “neither” and “nor”: “the details in the newly discovered letters” and “the conclusion that the historian draws from them.”
Apply the agreement rule
When subjects joined by “neither ... nor” differ in number, the verb generally agrees with the subject closer to the verb. Here, the closer subject is “the conclusion.”
Ignore intervening modifiers
The relative clause “that the historian draws from them” modifies “conclusion.” The plural pronoun “them” is not the subject governing the verb in the blank.
Choose the matching verb
Because “conclusion” is singular, the sentence requires the singular verb “is”: “neither the details ... nor the conclusion ... is consistent.”