In many of her landscape paintings from the 1970s and 1980s, Lebanese American artist Etel Adnan worked to capture the...

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

• In many of her landscape paintings from the 1970s and 1980s,
  • Lebanese American artist Etel Adnan
    • worked to capture the essence of California's fog-shrouded Mount Tamalpais region
      • through abstraction,
      • using splotches of color to represent the area's features.
• Interestingly,
  • the triangle
    • representing the mountain itself
  • [?] among the few defined figures in her paintings.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us context about Etel Adnan's painting style:

• She's a Lebanese American artist
• In her 1970s and 1980s landscape paintings,
  • she used abstraction to capture Mount Tamalpais
  • she used splotches of color to represent the area's features

Now the second sentence presents an interesting detail:

• 'Interestingly, the triangle representing the mountain itself...'

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

• 'the triangle representing the mountain itself ______ among the few defined figures in her paintings.'

Let's look at our choices:

• They're all forms of the verb 'to be'
• But they differ in whether they're singular or plural:
  • 'are' - plural
  • 'have been' - plural
  • 'were' - plural
  • 'is' - singular

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The subject of this sentence is 'the triangle'
  • That's what this sentence is fundamentally about
  • 'Representing the mountain itself' is a phrase that describes WHICH triangle we're talking about
  • But the main subject is still 'the triangle' - and that's singular
• Since 'the triangle' is singular, we need a singular verb

So we need is - it's the only singular verb form in our choices.

The sentence is saying: In paintings that mostly use abstract splotches of color, this triangle (representing the mountain) is actually one of the few clearly defined shapes.

Grammar Concept Applied

Matching Verbs to Subjects When There's a Describing Phrase in Between

The key principle: A verb must agree in number with its subject - even when there's a descriptive phrase separating them.

Here's the pattern:

Subject + Describing Phrase + Verb

The describing phrase gives us more information about the subject, but it doesn't change whether the subject is singular or plural:

• Singular subject: The student working on three different projects needs extra time
  • Subject: 'the student' (singular)
  • Describing phrase: 'working on three different projects'
  • Verb: 'needs' (singular) - agrees with 'student,' not 'projects'
• Plural subject: The students working on the project need extra time
  • Subject: 'the students' (plural)
  • Describing phrase: 'working on the project'
  • Verb: 'need' (plural) - agrees with 'students,' not 'project'

In our question:

• Subject: 'the triangle' (singular)
• Describing phrase: 'representing the mountain itself'
• Verb needed: 'is' (singular) - must agree with 'triangle'

The SAT often tests this by placing words between the subject and verb that might distract you, but the rule stays the same: identify the true subject and make sure your verb matches it in number.