Find the part of the sentence that contains an error:
Not only does the report fail to address the structaul gaps, (1)/ but also it overlooks the more pressing issue (2)/ of community exclusion which, according to activists, (3)/ have been systematically ignored for years.(4)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. (4).
Error Concept: Related to subject-verb agreement.
What is wrong: The plural auxiliary verb 'have' is incorrectly used to refer to a singular subject.
Grammar Concept: A verb must agree with its subject in number. When a relative pronoun (like 'which') acts as a subject, its verb must agree with the antecedent (the noun it refers back to).
Incorrectness of the concept in context: In this sentence, the relative pronoun 'which' refers back to the singular noun phrase 'community exclusion'. Since 'community exclusion' is singular, using the plural verb 'have' is a grammatical error.
Correction: Thus, 'have' should be replaced with 'has' to match the singular subject 'community exclusion'.
Corrected phrase: has been systematically ignored for years.
Final sentence: Not only does the report fail to address the structural gaps, but also it overlooks the more pressing issue of community exclusion which, according to activists, has been systematically ignored for years.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.