How can you ensure correct subject-verb agreement in complex sentences?

• A. Change the verb to match the most distant noun in the sentence.
• B. Match the verb to the subject in number, even with intervening clauses; simplify or rewrite if needed.
• C. Ignore intervening clauses when choosing the verb form.
• D. Always use plural verbs for compound subjects.

Answer: (B)

The main rule is that the verb must agree with the main subject's number, even when there are intervening phrases or clauses. Identify the core subject that the sentence is talking about, then set the verb to match its number. If that subject is singular, use a singular verb; if it’s plural, use a plural verb. The extra words in the middle—prepositional phrases, relative clauses, or other material—don’t change the subject’s number, so they shouldn’t mislead you. When in doubt, rewrite the sentence in a simplified form to check: for example, a sentence like “The bouquet of flowers is on the table” uses a singular verb because the main subject is bouquet, even though flowers is plural inside a modifying phrase. If the subject were plural, as in “The bouquets of flowers are on the tables,” the verb would be plural. For more complex cases, such as when two subjects are joined by and or with certain phrasing, remember the general tendency: the verb agrees with the subject that governs the action, and only in rare exceptions is there a single-unit sense that takes a singular verb.