Question

Choose the correct form of the verb to complete the sentence:
Neither the teacher nor the students _____ in the classroom.
a. were
b. was
c. is
d. been

Answer 1

Hint:
 The given sentence already tells us the situation. Look for pointers suggesting which tense to use. The actions are completed in the given sentence. These pointers are indicators of a certain tense.

Complete answer:
 We can identify the kind of verb needed when we look at the subject of the sentence. In order to do that, we need to deconstruct the given sentence-
The subject is clearly the phrase ‘neither the teacher nor the students’. This indicates that the subject is plural. This means that only verbs that are plural can go with the given subject. The verbs that we need to look for should match the plural subject.

The simple past tense is used to describe events that took place in the past and is constructed by adding the suffixes ‘-d’ or ‘-ed’ to root verbs. The words ‘was’ and ‘were’
are also sometimes used as helping verbs. The word ‘was’ is for singular subjects and the
word ‘were’ is for plural subjects.
Now we know what we are looking for from the given answers. Let’s look at the given
options-
a. were - This verb is always used for the second person and third person plural, which means that it is considered plural. This matches the given subject and it is in the simple past tense. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct answer.
b. was - This verb is used only for the first person and third person singular, which means that it is a singular verb. This does not match the given subject. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect answer.
c. is - This verb is used only for the first person and third person singular, which means that it is a singular verb. This does not match the given subject. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect answer.
d. been - This verb is only used as a participle. This does not match the given subject. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect answer.

Note:
 Make sure to be careful while choosing the verb. The number of the verb and the subject should match. This is all dependent on the subject of the sentence, so read the sentence carefully.