In a recent address to the United Nations, climate scientist Dr. Renata Miles noted that over the past decade, the growing body of measurements documenting ocean acidification, along with projections of accelerating Arctic ice loss, ______ the urgency of coordinated international action.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For subject-verb agreement questions with long subjects, locate the head noun before considering the nouns closest to the blank. Set aside prepositional phrases and additions introduced by expressions such as “along with,” determine whether the head noun is singular or plural, and then use any time expression to choose the appropriate tense or aspect.
Hints
Find the head noun
Do not automatically match the verb with the nearest noun. Determine which noun is the grammatical head of the entire subject.
Evaluate the added phrase
Consider whether a phrase introduced by “along with” creates a compound subject or merely adds information about the main subject.
Check agreement and time
Compare the auxiliary verbs in the choices for both singular-versus-plural agreement and compatibility with a period extending from the past to the present.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the head of the subject
The complete subject is “the growing body of measurements documenting ocean acidification, along with projections of accelerating Arctic ice loss.” Its head noun is the singular noun “body,” not the nearer plural nouns “measurements” or “projections.”
Set aside the added phrase
The phrase “along with projections of accelerating Arctic ice loss” adds information but does not create a compound subject. Consequently, the verb must still agree with the singular noun “body.”
Use the time cue
The phrase “over the past decade” describes a period extending from the past to the present, so the present perfect is appropriate. A singular subject forms the present perfect with “has,” not “have.”
Select the agreeing verb phrase
The singular present-perfect form is “has underscored.” Thus, the completed clause reads, “the growing body of measurements ... has underscored the urgency of coordinated international action.”