Fill in the blank: Either the chief of the village or the leader of the farmers ______ to be held responsible…

Question

Fill in the blank: Either the chief of the village or the leader of the farmers ______ to be held responsible for the revolt.

ScanSolve AI Tutor · Accepted Answer

To fill in the gap, we need to apply the rules of subject-verb agreement (concord) for sentences using "either...or".

Identify the subjects connected by "either...or".
The two subjects are "the chief of the village" and "the leader of the farmers".
Determine the number (singular or plural) of the subject closest to the verb.
When "either...or" connects two subjects, the verb agrees with the subject that is closer to it. In this sentence, the subject closer to the blank is "the leader of the farmers".
Although "farmers" is plural, the actual subject of this phrase is "leader", which is singular.
Choose the verb that agrees with the closest subject.
Since "the leader of the farmers" is singular, the verb must also be singular.
- A. "were" is a plural past tense verb.
- B. "are" is a plural present tense verb.
- C. "is" is a singular present tense verb.
- D. "have" is a plural present tense verb.
The singular verb "is" correctly agrees with the singular subject "the leader of the farmers".

The complete sentence is: "Either the chief of the village or the leader of the farmers is to be held responsible for the revolt."

The correct option is C.

The answer is $\boxed{\text{C. is}}$ .

Fill in the blank: Either the chief of the village or the leader of the farmers ______ to be held responsible for the revolt.