An agreement question tests whether a verb matches a subject that names one thing or more than one. Sort the forms by testing them with it or they, not by tense. Then find the true subject by asking who or what the verb is about and crossing out extra descriptions. The verb must match the subject’s number: singular for one thing and plural for more than one. A nearby noun in an added phrase doesn’t become the subject.
Hints
- Hint 1
The words before the blank include several nouns. Ask which noun the missing verb is about, rather than assuming the nearest noun is the subject.
- Hint 2
Check how the revised editions are added. What work is along with doing in the sentence?
- Hint 3
Cross out the describing phrases, then replace the remaining subject with it or they. Which verb forms can go with that replacement?
Step-by-step
Sort, find, and match
Step 1Sort the verb forms
Sort the verb forms by testing them with it or they. The forms have wielded, were wielding, and wield all fit they, so they’re plural. This is an agreement question: the missing verb must match whatever has a profound influence. Start with number, not tense, because a change in tense can’t fix a verb that doesn’t match its subject.
- Step 2
Find the core subject
What has the influence: the collection or the essays inside it? Start with An acclaimed anthology, and mentally cross out of essays published in 1982. The words about the essays and the publication date give us more about the collection; they don’t make essays the subject. The true subject is anthology, a single collection even though it contains many essays.
- Step 3
Check whether the editions join the subject
Does along with its subsequent revised editions add a second subject? No: along with adds extra information here, while and would join two subjects. The commas show that this phrase can be crossed out without breaking the sentence. What remains before the blank is one anthology, not the anthology and its editions. Along with doesn’t make anthology plural, so editions can’t control the verb even though it’s the noun closest to the blank.
- Step 4
Match the singular helping verb
Shrink An acclaimed anthology to it: which form goes with that subject? The helping verb shows whether the subject is singular or plural, and has goes with one thing. It has wielded passes that check, so has wielded matches the sentence’s subject. Choice B.