Question

Find the part of the sentence that contains an error: What the committee failed to deliberate on adequately (1)/ were not the policy's objectives themselves, (2)/ but the political ramifications it (3)/ might have had if implemented without broader consensus. (4)

• A. (1)
• B. (2)
• C. (3)
• D. (4)

Answer 1

Answer:

B. (2)

• This is a subject-verb agreement error. • The subject of the sentence is the nominal relative clause "What the committee failed to deliberate on adequately". • Singular clausal subjects take a singular verb. • Therefore, "were" should be corrected to "was". Correction: "What the committee failed to deliberate on adequately (1) was not the policy's objectives themselves..." (2)