Dr. Chen's 2024 analysis of multiple climate models _____ that Arctic ice loss will accelerate more rapidly than previously predicted.

Sentence Structure

• Dr. Chen's 2024 analysis
• of multiple climate models
• _____ that Arctic ice loss will accelerate more rapidly than previously predicted.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

'Dr. Chen's 2024 analysis of multiple climate models'

• This is telling us about a specific analysis
  • It was done by Dr. Chen
  • It was done in 2024
  • It looked at multiple climate models

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank:

• 'Dr. Chen's 2024 analysis _____ that Arctic ice loss will accelerate...'

Let's look at our choices:

• A. suggest (plural form)
• B. suggests (singular form)
• C. are suggesting (plural form)
• D. have suggested (plural form)

What do we need here?

• We need a verb that agrees with the subject of this sentence
• The subject is 'analysis' - that's the thing that's doing the action (the suggesting)
• 'Analysis' is singular (just one analysis)
• Even though 'models' appears right before the blank, that word is part of the phrase 'of multiple climate models' which just describes WHICH analysis we're talking about
• The verb needs to match 'analysis,' not 'models'

So we need the singular form: suggests

Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture:

• 'that Arctic ice loss will accelerate more rapidly than previously predicted'
  • This is what the analysis suggests
  • The analysis is indicating that ice will melt faster than scientists thought before

The complete meaning is:

• Dr. Chen did an analysis in 2024 looking at various climate models, and that analysis indicates that Arctic ice will melt faster than we previously predicted.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Verbs with Their Subjects When Words Come Between Them

The key principle: A verb must agree in number with its subject - but sometimes other words appear between the subject and verb that can be distracting.

The most common distractor is a prepositional phrase (a phrase that starts with words like 'of,' 'in,' 'with,' 'from,' etc.):

Pattern to recognize:

• Singular subject + prepositional phrase with plural object + verb
• The verb must match the subject, NOT the object in the prepositional phrase

Example 1:

• ✗ The collection of rare coins are valuable.
• ✓ The collection of rare coins is valuable.
• Subject: 'collection' (singular)
• Prepositional phrase: 'of rare coins'
• Even though 'coins' is plural, it's just describing which collection
• Verb matches 'collection': is

Example 2:

• ✗ The effectiveness of these new treatments remain uncertain.
• ✓ The effectiveness of these new treatments remains uncertain.
• Subject: 'effectiveness' (singular)
• Prepositional phrase: 'of these new treatments'
• Verb matches 'effectiveness': remains

In our question:

• Subject: 'analysis' (singular)
• Prepositional phrase: 'of multiple climate models'
• Correct verb: 'suggests' (singular)

Strategy tip: When looking for subject-verb agreement, try mentally crossing out prepositional phrases to see the subject and verb side by side: 'Dr. Chen's 2024 analysis ~~of multiple climate models~~ suggests...'