Sentence Correction Practice

Sentence Correction 35 / 50

Choose the option that best corrects the grammatical or logical error in the underlined fragment.

Neither the prominent critic's nuanced review, largely dismissed by mainstream media, nor the fervent protests from the author's devoted readership seems to have had any significant impact on the book's commercial success.

A. (No change)
B. seem to have had
C. appears to have had
D. has seemed to have had

1. Identification of Error: Subject-Verb Agreement.
2. Grammatical Rule: When "neither...nor" connects two subjects, the verb agrees with the subject that is closer to it. In this sentence, "protests" (plural) is closer to the verb than "review" (singular), so the verb must be plural.
3. Option Elimination:
A. Incorrect — 'seems' is a singular verb, but the nearest subject, 'protests', is plural.
B. Correct — 'seem' is a plural verb that correctly agrees with the plural subject 'protests'.
C. Incorrect — 'appears' is a singular verb and thus does not agree with the plural subject 'protests'.
D. Incorrect — 'has seemed' is a singular verb, violating the subject-verb agreement rule, and also alters the original construction.

← →

Keep Learning?