The classic children's board game Chutes and Ladders is a version of an ancient Nepalese game, Paramapada Sopanapata. In both...

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

Sentence 1:

• The classic children's board game Chutes and Ladders
  • is
    • a version of an ancient Nepalese game, Paramapada Sopanapata.

Sentence 2:

• In both games,
• players
  • encounter 'good' or 'bad' spaces
    • while traveling along a path;
• landing on one of the good spaces
  • (?) a player
    • to skip ahead and arrive closer to the end goal.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The first sentence tells us:

• 'The classic children's board game Chutes and Ladders is a version of an ancient Nepalese game, Paramapada Sopanapata.'
  • This is just giving us background - Chutes and Ladders comes from an older game.

The second sentence begins:

• 'In both games, players encounter 'good' or 'bad' spaces while traveling along a path;'
  • This describes what happens when you play - as you move through the game, you land on different types of spaces.

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

• 'landing on one of the good spaces ______ a player to skip ahead and arrive closer to the end goal.'

Let's look at our choices:

• A. allows (singular)
• B. are allowing (plural, progressive)
• C. have allowed (plural, perfect)
• D. allow (plural)

What do we notice about the structure here?

The subject of this part is the whole phrase 'landing on one of the good spaces.'

• This is describing an action - the action of landing
• Even though 'spaces' is plural within the phrase, we're talking about the ACTION of landing as one thing
  • Think of it this way: "Running fast is hard" - 'running' is the subject, and it's singular
• When an action (expressed with an -ing word) is the subject, it needs a SINGULAR verb
  • Just like: "Eating vegetables helps you" (not "help")

Also, we need simple present tense because we're describing a general rule about how the game works - not something happening right now or that happened in the past.

So we need: allows - singular and simple present tense.

The complete meaning is: When you land on a good space, that action allows you (gives you permission/makes it possible) to jump ahead toward winning.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

When an Action Serves as the Subject

When you describe an action using an -ing word (called a gerund in grammar terms) and use it as the subject of a sentence, that subject is treated as SINGULAR, even if there are plural words within the phrase describing the action.

The Pattern:

• Action as subject: Swimming in cold lakes + singular verb = is refreshing
  • Even though "lakes" is plural, "swimming" is the subject (singular)
• Action as subject: Reading long books + singular verb = requires patience
  • Even though "books" is plural, "reading" is the subject (singular)
• Action as subject: Meeting new people + singular verb = makes me nervous
  • Even though "people" is plural, "meeting" is the subject (singular)

In our question:

• Action as subject: Landing on one of the good spaces + singular verb = allows a player to skip ahead
  • Even though "spaces" is plural, "landing" is the subject (singular)

The key is to identify what's actually doing the action of the main verb. In this case, what "allows" the player to skip ahead? The ACTION of landing. That action, as a subject, is singular.