A verb form question tests whether a verb completes a clause and matches its subject. Start by finding the blank's clause, then sort the forms into main verbs and forms that can't stand alone. A clause starting with that needs its own main verb, so find the blank's own subject. In the present tense, one thing usually takes -s; more than one doesn't. A nearby noun may belong to a different part of the sentence.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the part starting with that. Which word names its subject?
- Hint 2
Check whether that part has its own main verb, rather than counting every verb in the sentence. Then ask whether its subject names one thing or more than one.
Step-by-step
Find the clause and match its subject
Step 1Separate the two clauses
In the novelist said that her latest book, said tells what the novelist did. What happens at that? It opens a clause, a group of words with its own subject and verb, about the book. That clause needs its own main verb, the verb that says what its subject does or is.
- Step 2
Check for the book's main verb
Read past deeper themes than any of her previous works to the period: no main verb follows the blank. Can exploring or having explored fill that gap? Neither can be a main verb on its own: an -ing form needs a helper, and a having form only describes. The blank must supply a main verb.
- Step 3
Match the verb to one book
Which subject must that verb match? her latest book names one book, while any of her previous works tells what it's compared with. One book takes a singular verb, so the present-tense form needs -s. That rules out explore, while explores matches the subject and completes the clause. Choice B.