Question

Fill in the blank with appropriate word-
Not only my neighbour but all the members of his family _______ honest.
a) Is
b) Are
c) Have
d) Was

Answer 1

Hint:Read the given phrase/sentence carefully. Try to make out the meaning of it and find the subject or the predicate or the main object of the sentence.

Complete answer:
The core meaning of the given sentence is that not only the speaker's neighbors, but everyone who lives in his family are honest. There are four options, we have to choose the correct one for the blank.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct option -
Option ‘a’ is Is. It is the third person singular of “be”. ‘Be' is to exist; occur or take place. We cannot use it in the given blank as it is singular, and the blank has to be filled with a plural form of the verb.
Option ‘b’ is Are. It is the second person singular present and first, second, third person plural present of “be”. It is in the plural form and can be used in the given blank.
Option ‘c’ is Have. It is a verb which means to possess, own, or holds. For example You may have tea. We cannot use it in the given sentence as we cannot use ‘have’ after ‘family’.
Option ‘d’ is Was. It is the past tense of ‘is’. But we cannot use it here in the given sentence as it is the past tense. Hence, option ‘b’ is the correct option.

Note:
All the other options are plausible distractions. You must know the verb form and usage of all of them to find out the correct option.