Question 148·Easy·Form, Structure, and Sense
Each spring, a fleet of brightly painted fishing boats _____ in the town's harbor for a week-long festival celebrating maritime culture.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For sentence-completion questions testing Standard English conventions, first strip away extra phrases (especially prepositional phrases like "of brightly painted fishing boats") to find the core subject and verb. Decide whether the subject is singular or plural, then match it with a verb form that agrees in number. Finally, use time clues such as "each spring," "now," or "in 1998" to choose the correct verb tense, and eliminate any answer that mis-matches either subject number or time frame.
Hints
Locate the true subject
Cover up the middle phrase "of brightly painted fishing boats" and read the core: "Each spring, a fleet ______ anchored..." What word is the subject here?
Check singular vs. plural
Ask yourself: Is the subject treated as one unit or many separate items? That will tell you whether you need a singular or plural verb.
Use the time phrase to pick a tense
Notice the phrase "Each spring." Does this describe a past one-time event, something happening right now, or a repeated routine? That will guide which verb tense works best.
Eliminate mismatches
Cross out any choices that don’t match both the subject’s number (singular/plural) and the kind of time being described (repeated vs. completed in the past).
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the sentence’s subject
Ignore the descriptive phrase in the middle and locate the core subject:
- "Each spring, a fleet of brightly painted fishing boats ______ anchored..."
The basic structure is "a fleet ______ anchored." The subject here is "a fleet," not "boats."
Decide if the subject is singular or plural
"Fleet" is a collective noun that refers to a group acting as a single unit. On the SAT, collective nouns like "team," "group," and "fleet" are treated as singular unless there’s a clear reason not to.
So, "a fleet" is singular and needs a singular verb form.
Use the time phrase to choose the correct tense
The phrase "Each spring" describes a regular, repeated event. English usually uses the simple present tense for routines or habits (for example, "Each summer, the fair comes to town").
So we want a singular, simple present verb phrase to complete the sentence correctly.
Match the subject and tense to the correct answer choice
Now check each choice:
- "are anchored" – present tense but plural verb; does not match singular "fleet."
- "is anchored" – present tense and singular verb; matches both the subject and the habitual time phrase.
- "have been anchored" – present perfect and plural verb; wrong tense and agreement for "a fleet."
- "were anchored" – past tense; does not match the ongoing, habitual sense of "Each spring."
The only choice that gives a singular, simple present verb that fits both the subject and the time phrase is "is anchored."