Read the following sentence. Last year, the council members blank happy to visit their sister city in Argentina. Choose the verb that makes this sentence correct. a. were b. are c. was d. is

The correct answer is A. Were

Explanation:

Verbs should agree with the subject (person or entity doing the action) and they should be in the correct tense (present, past, or future). In this context, the section "Last year" indicates the action of the sentence occurred in the past, and therefore the verb should be in the past. Moreover, in this sentence, the subject is "the council members", which is a plural subject. This means an appropriate verb for this sentence should be in past and plural form. According to this, the only correct option is "were" because this is the past form of the verb to be, it is used for plural subjects, and it creates a coherent sentence.

sthe miracle worker  ▾search

home  >   study guides  >   the miracle worker

the miracle worker themeswilliam gibson

themes and meanings

(comprehensive guide to drama)

print  print  document  pdf  list  cite  link  link

there are two central themes in  the miracle worker: that the human spirit can triumph over even the most daunting of disabilities and that a dedicated teacher can transform the lives of those with whom he or she comes into contact. these inspirational themes have long been personified in the widely known true-life relationship between helen keller and annie sullivan, but  the miracle worker  also dramatizes collateral issues that extend beyond the particular case. underlying helen’s process of learning basic principles of what annie terms “obedience” (decorum, etiquette, and hygiene), there are more universal lessons of self-governance—the inculcation of self-restraint instead of willfulness, the development of self-discipline instead of self-indulgence. only when these lessons have been mastered can helen begin to acquire language—which, annie says, “is to the mind more than light is to the eye.”