Choose the most suitable option to replace the highlighted part of the sentence:
Neither the manager nor the employees was available.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. were available.
Error concept: Subject-Verb Agreement with correlative conjunctions.
What is wrong: The singular verb 'was' is incorrectly used with a plural subject located closest to it.
Grammatical concept: When two subjects are joined by 'neither... nor' or 'either... or,' the verb must agree with the nearest subject.
Incorrectness of the concept in context: In this sentence, the subjects are 'the manager' (singular) and 'the employees' (plural). Since 'the employees' is the subject closer to the verb, the verb must be plural.
How to correct: Replace the singular verb 'was' with the plural verb 'were' to match the plural subject 'employees.'
Correct phrase: were available.
Final sentence: Neither the manager nor the employees were available.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.