SAT Reading & Writing · Form, Structure, and Sense

Each of the students in the discussion group ______ a chance to reconsider their initial answer before the class moved on.

Each of the students in the discussion group ______ a chance to reconsider their initial answer before the class moved on.

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

Answer and explanation

Answer: D: was given

The grammatical subject of the verb is "each," a singular pronoun, even though it's followed by the plural phrase "of the students in the discussion group." Subject-verb agreement follows the grammatical subject, calling for the singular was given. Were given and are given are both plural, incorrectly agreeing with "students" instead of the true subject "each." Have been given is also plural and additionally shifts to present perfect without any signal in the sentence for that change in time frame.

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