Identify the error in the sentence: 'Neither the department chair nor the faculty members was available to meet with the accreditation team.'
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. subject-verb agreement
- Step 1: When subject elements are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb must agree with the closer subject element (the principle of proximity). Because 'faculty members' is plural and sits immediately adjacent to the verb, the verb must be plural: 'were available'. Answer: subject-verb agreement. Why not the others: "faulty parallel conjunction" occurs when elements joined by correlative conjunctions lack grammatical symmetry; "dangling participial clause" involves an introductory participle phrase that lacks a logical agent; "comma splice error" joins two independent clauses using only a comma without a conjunction.
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