SAT Reading & Writing · Form, Structure, and Sense

Each of the museum's donated paintings ______ examined by conservators before being placed on public display.

Each of the museum's donated paintings ______ examined by conservators before being placed on public display.

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

Answer and explanation

Answer: B: is

The grammatical subject of the verb is "each," a singular pronoun, even though it's followed by the plural phrase "of the museum's donated paintings." Subject-verb agreement follows the grammatical subject, calling for the singular *is*. *Are* and *were* are both plural, incorrectly agreeing with "paintings" instead of the true subject "each." *Have been* is also plural and additionally shifts to present perfect without any signal in the sentence for that change in tense.

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