During the summer excavation season, archaeologists work at a remote site in the desert. With the same meticulous attention to...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• During the summer excavation season,
• archaeologists
• work at a remote site in the desert.
• With the same meticulous attention to detail
• that their profession demands,
• they
• [?] each artifact's location
• before carefully removing it from the ground.

Understanding the Meaning

• The first sentence sets the scene: "During the summer excavation season, archaeologists work at a remote site in the desert."
  • This tells us what archaeologists do during their work season
  • "Work" is present tense - describing their general practice
• Now the second sentence describes HOW they work: "With the same meticulous attention to detail that their profession demands"
  • This describes the careful way they do their work
  • It's a phrase that sets up the action coming next
• "they"
  • This refers back to the archaeologists
  • "They" is plural
• Now here's where we need to fill in the blank: "they _____ each artifact's location"
  • A. document (plural form)
  • B. documents (singular form)
  • C. is documenting (singular progressive)
  • D. was documenting (singular past progressive)
• What do we notice?
  • The subject is "they" - this is PLURAL
  • "They" refers to "archaeologists" (multiple people)
  • A plural subject needs a plural verb form
  • The first sentence uses "work" (present tense) to describe what archaeologists do during excavation season
  • This second sentence is describing the same kind of general procedure
  • So we need present tense to match
• So we need document - the plural present tense form that agrees with "they."
  • Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture: "before carefully removing it from the ground"
  • This completes the description of their procedure: first they document the location, then they remove the artifact
  • This confirms we're describing a standard procedure they follow

Grammar Concept Applied

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Material

The subject and verb in a sentence must agree in number (both singular or both plural). Sometimes other phrases come between the subject and verb, but these don't change what the verb needs to agree with.

The pattern:

1. Identify the true subject (who or what is doing the action)
2. Determine if it's singular or plural
3. Choose the verb form that matches in number
4. Don't be distracted by words that come between the subject and verb

Example 1:

• The scientists in the lab conduct experiments daily.
• Subject: "scientists" (plural)
• Intervening phrase: "in the lab"
• Verb: "conduct" (plural form to match "scientists")

Example 2:

• The leader of the archaeologists explains the findings.
• Subject: "leader" (singular)
• Intervening phrase: "of the archaeologists"
• Verb: "explains" (singular form to match "leader")

In our question:

• Subject: "they" referring to "archaeologists" (plural)
• Intervening phrase: "With the same meticulous attention to detail that their profession demands"
• Correct verb: "document" (plural form to match "they")
• The long prepositional phrase between "they" and the verb doesn't change the fact that we need a plural verb to match our plural subject