ACT (Enhanced)EnglishMedium
A student is revising an essay and encounters the following sentence: 'The committee, comprised of various stakeholders, were tasked with developing a new policy.' The student recognizes a grammatical error. Which of the following corrections addresses the error?
- AThe committee, comprised of various stakeholders, are tasked with developing a new policy.
- BThe committee, comprised of various stakeholders, were being tasked with developing a new policy.
- CThe committee, comprised of various stakeholders, being tasked with developing a new policy.
- DThe committee, comprised of various stakeholders, was tasked with developing a new policy.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. The committee, comprised of various stakeholders, was tasked with developing a new policy.
The subject of the sentence is 'committee,' which is a singular collective noun. The phrase 'comprised of various stakeholders' is an intervening phrase that does not change the singularity of the subject. Therefore, the singular verb 'was' should be used instead of 'were.'
Why the other options are wrong
- A. 'Are' is a plural verb, incorrectly agreeing with the singular subject 'committee.'
- B. 'Were being tasked' is plural and also changes the tense and voice unnecessarily, in addition to being incorrect for the singular subject.
- C. 'Being tasked' creates a participial phrase, resulting in a sentence fragment if used this way.
Subject-Verb Agreement (Collective Nouns)
Collective nouns (e.g., committee, team, family) take a singular verb when acting as a single unit and a plural verb when the members of the group are acting individually.
- Treat collective noun as singular if acting as one unit.
- Treat as plural if members act separately.
- Intervening phrases don't change subject's number.
Memory trick: Subjects and verbs must match, like a lock and its latch.