Question 90·Hard·Form, Structure, and Sense
In recent years, the once-overlooked marginalia that mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan scribbled in his notebooks—pages filled with fragmentary formulas, intuitive leaps, and cryptic remarks—_____ scholars with fresh insight into the origins of his most celebrated theorems.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For verb-agreement and tense questions, first strip away descriptive phrases between commas or dashes to expose the core subject and verb. Decide whether the subject is singular or plural—watch for tricky Latin-based plurals like "data," "media," and "marginalia." Then use time cues such as "in recent years," "since," or "over the past decade" to choose the correct tense, often the present perfect for actions from the past continuing to the present. Finally, eliminate any options that either disagree in number with the subject or mismatch the time frame indicated by the sentence.
Hints
Find the subject of the verb
Cover up the long descriptive parts between commas and dashes. What noun is actually doing the action in the main clause with the blank?
Check if the subject is singular or plural
Think about "marginalia": does it refer to one note or many? Would you replace it with "it" or "they"? Use that to decide whether you need a singular or plural verb.
Match the verb tense to the time phrase
Look at the words "In recent years." Do they suggest a one-time event in the past, or an action continuing from the past up to now? Which verb tense is usually used for that situation?
Step-by-step Explanation
Locate the true subject of the blank
Ignore the descriptive phrases and focus on the core sentence: "In recent years, the once-overlooked marginalia ... _____ scholars with fresh insight."
If you strip away the modifiers, you get: "the marginalia _____ scholars." So the subject of the verb in the blank is marginalia.
Decide if the subject is singular or plural
"Marginalia" is a Latin-based word that looks unusual, but it is plural, like "data" or "media." It refers to multiple notes written in the margins.
Because the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural (it should go with "they," not "it"). That rules out any singular verb forms.
Match the verb tense to the time phrase
The sentence begins with "In recent years," which describes an action that started in the past and continues up to the present.
In English, that situation is usually expressed with the present perfect tense: "have/has" + past participle (for example, "have discovered," "has changed"). So we want a verb form that is both plural and present perfect.
Choose the verb that fits number and tense
Among the choices, the only verb that is both plural and in the present perfect tense is "have provided", so the correct answer is B) have provided.