Modern technology companies are increasingly investing in sustainability initiatives, recognizing the business value of environmental responsibility—o...

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

• Modern technology companies
• are increasingly investing in sustainability initiatives,
  • recognizing the business value of environmental responsibility—
    • one of which,
      • led by renewable energy specialist Maria Kowalski,
    • [?] carbon-neutral manufacturing processes
      • across multiple production facilities.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts by telling us what tech companies are doing:

• 'Modern technology companies are increasingly investing in sustainability initiatives'
  • Companies are putting more and more resources into environmental projects
• 'recognizing the business value of environmental responsibility'
  • This tells us WHY - they see that being environmentally responsible is good for business

Then we get a dash that signals we're about to zoom in on a specific example:

• 'one of which'
  • We're now focusing on ONE specific initiative out of all those sustainability initiatives mentioned earlier

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

• 'one of which, led by renewable energy specialist Maria Kowalski, _____ carbon-neutral manufacturing processes'

Let's look at our choices:

• A. implement (plural form)
• B. are implementing (plural form)
• C. have implemented (plural form)
• D. implements (singular form)

What do we need to figure out? We need the verb that agrees with the subject.

What's the subject here?

• 'one of which' - we're talking about ONE initiative
• Even though we're referring to one item from within a group of initiatives, we're focusing on just ONE
• So our subject is SINGULAR

What about 'led by renewable energy specialist Maria Kowalski'?

• This is just describing WHICH initiative we're talking about
• It's extra information set off by commas
• It's not the main subject - it's describing the subject

So we need a SINGULAR verb to match 'one.'

The answer is D. implements - this is the singular form that agrees with 'one.'

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

• The initiative 'implements carbon-neutral manufacturing processes across multiple production facilities'
• This means it puts these environmentally friendly manufacturing methods into action at various factories

The complete meaning: Tech companies are investing in sustainability projects for business reasons, and one specific project - directed by Maria Kowalski - is about implementing carbon-neutral manufacturing at multiple facilities.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Subject-Verb Agreement with Separated Elements

When a subject is separated from its verb by descriptive phrases or extra information, you need to identify the true subject and ignore the interrupting words (called intervening modifiers in grammar terms).

The Pattern:

• Subject + [descriptive phrase with other nouns] + Verb
• The verb must agree with the actual subject, not with nouns in the interrupting phrase

Key situation - "one of [plural noun]":

• Even though "of [plural noun]" follows "one," the subject is still SINGULAR
• Example: "One of the students is absent" (not "are")
• The phrase "of the students" is just telling us which group the "one" comes from

In this question:

• Subject: "one" (from "one of which")
• Interrupting phrase: "led by renewable energy specialist Maria Kowalski"
• Verb needed: singular form "implements"

Why it's tricky:

• The subject "one" appears early: "one of which"
• Then a descriptive phrase interrupts: "led by renewable energy specialist Maria Kowalski"
• The verb comes after the interruption
• You might be distracted by "initiatives" (plural) or "processes" (plural)
• But the true subject is "one" - singular

Another example:

• "The manager, along with her entire team, plans to attend" (not "plan")
• Subject: "manager" (singular)
• Interrupting phrase: "along with her entire team"
• Verb: "plans" (singular)