The architect Maya Lin, occasionally in collaboration with landscape designers and environmental artists, _______ recognized for creating memorials th...

SOLUTION

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

• The architect Maya Lin,
• occasionally in collaboration with landscape designers
  • and environmental artists,
• [?] recognized for creating memorials that integrate natural elements
  • with built structures.
• Her Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.,
  • established her reputation for designing spaces that encourage reflection.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

• 'The architect Maya Lin'
  • This tells us who we're talking about – a specific person, an architect named Maya Lin.
  • This is our subject.
• 'occasionally in collaboration with landscape designers and environmental artists'
  • This gives us extra information about how she sometimes works – she collaborates with other professionals.
  • But notice this is set off by commas – it's additional detail, not changing who the subject is.

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

• 'The architect Maya Lin ______ recognized for creating memorials...'

Let's look at our choices:

• We're deciding between different verb forms: have been, is, are, are being

Based on what we've read so far:

• The subject is 'The architect Maya Lin' – this is one person, singular.
• We need a verb that agrees with this singular subject.
• Even though there are other people mentioned (landscape designers, environmental artists), those are just part of the descriptive phrase about collaboration – they're not the subject.

So we need is – the singular form that matches our singular subject.

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

• 'recognized for creating memorials that integrate natural elements with built structures'
  • This tells us what Maya Lin is known for – making memorials that combine nature and architecture.

The second sentence adds:

• 'Her Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., established her reputation for designing spaces that encourage reflection.'
  • This gives us a specific example of her famous work.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The subject 'The architect Maya Lin' is singular
• There's a phrase set off by commas that comes between the subject and verb
• This intervening phrase contains plural nouns (designers, artists)
• BUT these plural nouns are just part of extra information about how she works
• The verb must agree with the actual subject – Maya Lin (singular) – not with the nouns in the descriptive phrase

So we need Choice B: is – the singular verb form that matches our singular subject.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Modifiers

The verb in a sentence must agree in number with its subject – singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs. This remains true even when phrases come between the subject and verb.

Here's the pattern:

Simple case:

• The architect is recognized (singular subject → singular verb)
• The architects are recognized (plural subject → plural verb)

With intervening modifier:

• The architect, occasionally working with others, is recognized
• Subject: "The architect" (singular)
• Intervening phrase: "occasionally working with others"
• Verb: "is" (singular) – matches the subject, not the plural "others"

In our question:

• Subject: "The architect Maya Lin" (singular)
• Intervening modifier: "occasionally in collaboration with landscape designers and environmental artists" (contains plural nouns but is just descriptive information)
• Verb needed: "is" (singular) – must match "The architect Maya Lin"

The key principle: Identify the true subject of the sentence, then make the verb agree with it. Don't be distracted by other nouns that appear between the subject and verb – those might be part of descriptive phrases (called prepositional phrases or modifying phrases in grammar terms) that give extra information but don't affect subject-verb agreement.