3.1 Subject Verb Agreement

The radiation that _____ during the decay of radioactive atomic nuclei is known as gamma radiation.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• occurs

• have occured

• occur

• are occuring

In recent years, economists around the world have created new tools that quantify the overall well-being of a country's citizens. Economists in India, for example, use an Ease of Living Index. This tool ____ economic potential, sustainability, and citizens' quality of life.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• measures

• had measured

• would have measured

• will have been measuring

Bonnie Buratti of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory _______ data about Saturn's rings collected by the Cassini spacecraft when she made an interesting discovery: the tiny moons embedded between and within Saturn's rings are shaped by the buildup of ring material on the moons' surfaces.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• studied

• has been studying

• will study

• was studying

Professional American football player Fred Cox invented one of the world's most popular toys. In the 1970s, he came up with the idea for the Nerf football, which ______ of the harder and heavier regulation football.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• were a smaller, foam version

• is a smaller, foam version

• are smaller, foam version

• were smaller, foam version

During the American Civil War, Thomas Morris Chester braved the front lines as a war correspondent for the Philadelphia Press. Amplifying the voices and experiences of Black soldiers ______ of particular importance to Chester, who later became an activist and lawyer during the postwar Reconstruction period.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• were

• was

• are

• have been

In the 1970s, Janaki Ammal, a prominent botanist, emerged as a powerful voice in India's environmental conservation movement. Her exhaustive chromosomal survey of plants in Silent Valley, a pristine tropical forest in Kerala, India, that is home to nearly 1,000 species of native flora (many of which are endangered), _______ instrumental in the government's

decision to preserve the forest.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• are

• were

• have been

• was