Light of Truth is a bronze and marble sculpture by artist Richard Hunt. It honors civil rights icon Ida B....

Sentence Structure

• Light of Truth is a bronze and marble sculpture by artist Richard Hunt.
• It honors civil rights icon Ida B. Wells.
• The sculpture [?] in a tree-lined plaza in Chicago, just a few blocks from where Wells lived.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning to understand what this passage is about.

First sentence:

• "Light of Truth is a bronze and marble sculpture by artist Richard Hunt."
  • This introduces us to a specific artwork
  • It's a sculpture made of bronze and marble
  • Created by artist Richard Hunt

Second sentence:

• "It honors civil rights icon Ida B. Wells."
  • The sculpture is dedicated to Ida B. Wells
  • She was an important civil rights figure

Third sentence - this is where we have our blank:

• "The sculpture ______ in a tree-lined plaza in Chicago..."

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank. Let's look at our choices:

• A. are standing
• B. have been standing
• C. stands
• D. were standing

What do we need here?

The subject is "The sculpture" - that's a singular noun.

• We need a verb that matches this singular subject.
• Looking at our choices:
  • "are standing" - "are" is plural
  • "have been standing" - "have been" is plural (singular would be "has been")
  • "stands" - this is singular
  • "were standing" - this is past tense

Also notice the passage uses present tense throughout:

• "Light of Truth IS a sculpture"
• "It HONORS civil rights icon"
• So we need present tense to stay consistent

We're describing where the sculpture is located - a permanent state.

• Simple present tense ("stands") works perfectly for permanent locations

So we need C. stands

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

• "...in a tree-lined plaza in Chicago, just a few blocks from where Wells lived."
  • This gives us the specific location
  • The plaza is in Chicago
  • It's near where Ida B. Wells used to live

The complete meaning: This passage describes the Light of Truth sculpture by Richard Hunt, which honors Ida B. Wells and stands in a plaza in Chicago near where she lived.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Verbs to Singular and Plural Subjects

When you have a subject in a sentence, the verb must match it in number - this means singular subjects take singular verb forms, and plural subjects take plural verb forms (called subject-verb agreement in grammar terms).

Here's the pattern:

Singular subject = Singular verb:

• The sculpture stands in the plaza
• "sculpture" = singular subject
• "stands" = singular verb (the -s ending signals singular in present tense)

Plural subject = Plural verb:

• The sculptures stand in the plaza
• "sculptures" = plural subject
• "stand" = plural verb (no -s ending)

In this question:

• Subject: "The sculpture" (singular)
• Correct verb: "stands" (singular form)
• Incorrect options: "are standing" and "have been standing" use plural forms ("are" and "have been")

Additional consideration - tense consistency:

When describing permanent locations or ongoing states, use simple present tense rather than progressive forms:

• "The sculpture stands in Chicago" (simple present - permanent location)
• "The sculpture is standing in Chicago" (progressive - sounds temporary)