Question 19·Easy·Form, Structure, and Sense
Neither of the short stories in the anthology _____ longer than ten pages.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For subject–verb agreement questions, first strip away extra phrases (especially ones starting with "of" or "in") to find the core subject. Determine whether that subject is singular or plural—remember that pronouns like "neither," "either," "each," and "everyone" are grammatically singular. Then match the verb form to (1) the subject’s number and (2) the logical tense of the sentence, and eliminate any choices that mismatch either the number or the time frame.
Hints
Locate the true subject
Ignore the blank for a moment and focus on the words before it. What is the main word functioning as the subject: the whole phrase or a single key word?
Think about number: singular or plural?
Consider what "Neither of the short stories" means. Does it refer to one thing or more than one, grammatically speaking?
Match the verb to the subject and context
Once you decide if the subject is singular or plural, eliminate any verb forms that don’t match that number or don’t fit a general present-time statement about the stories.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the subject of the verb
Look at the beginning of the sentence: "Neither of the short stories in the anthology ___ longer than ten pages."
The core subject is "Neither". The phrase "of the short stories in the anthology" is a prepositional phrase that describes "Neither" but is not the grammatical subject.
Decide if the subject is singular or plural
"Neither" refers to not one of two things. Even though it talks about two short stories, grammatically "neither" is singular.
A singular subject needs a singular verb form.
Determine the most logical tense
The sentence is making a general statement about the stories’ lengths, not about a past time or a time period that continues into the present.
For general, always-true facts, English usually uses the simple present tense (like "is" or "are"). So we want a singular, simple present verb to match the singular subject.
Match the subject with the correct verb choice
We need a verb that is:
- singular (to match "Neither"), and
- simple present tense (to describe a general fact about the stories).
Check the choices:
- "are" – present tense but plural
- "is" – present tense and singular
- "were" – past tense and plural
- "have been" – present perfect and plural
Only "is" is singular simple present, so the correct completion is:
"Neither of the short stories in the anthology is longer than ten pages."