The board, B. in a rare moment of complete agreement, C. were unanimous in its decision D. to fire the CEO, which came as a surprise
- AOption (a)
The board
- BOption (b)
in a rare moment of complete agreement
- COption (c)
were unanimous in its decision
- DOption (d)
to fire the CEO, which came as a surprise.
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Correct answer
were unanimous in its decision
Why this answer is correct
The correct answer is '3' i.e. were unanimous in its decision .
Key Points
- The subject of the sentence is "The board", which is treated as a singular collective noun in standard English usage.
- Therefore, the verb used with it must also be singular to maintain subject-verb agreement.
- However, in the given sentence, the verb "were" is plural, which causes a grammatical error.
- The correct singular verb should be "was" instead of "were".
Correct sentence: The board, in a rare moment of complete agreement, was unanimous in its decision to fire the CEO, which came as a surprise.
Additional Information
- Collective Nouns:
- Collective nouns like "board," "team," "committee" are usually treated as singular in American English and take singular verbs.
- Example: The team is preparing for the big game.
- However, in British English, they are sometimes treated as plural if the focus is on the members of the group acting individually.
- Subject-Verb Agreement:
- It is crucial to ensure that the verb matches the subject in both number and form.
- Example: The committee has made its decision (singular).