Choose the most suitable option to replace the underlined part of the sentence. If the sentence is already correct, select 'No substitution required'.
One of the most valuable paintings were stolen from the gallery last night.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Correct Answer
was stolen
Explanation
The sentence features a subject-verb agreement error. When a sentence begins with the phrase 'One of the,' it is followed by a plural noun ('paintings'), but the true grammatical subject is the singular pronoun 'One.' Because the subject is singular, it requires a singular verb. The plural passive verb 'were stolen' must be replaced with the singular passive verb 'was stolen' to match the subject.
Key Points
Core Definition Subject-verb agreement dictates that the verb must align with the true grammatical head of the subject phrase rather than an intervening plural noun inside a prepositional modifier.
Grammatical Role Replacing a plural past auxiliary verb with its singular counterpart establishes syntactic harmony with a singular distributive pronoun.