The cuneiform tablets discovered in 2022 at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Lagash, which detail economic transactions between neighboring city-state...

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 cuneiform tablets
  • discovered in 2022 at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Lagash,
  • which detail economic transactions between neighboring city-states,
• [have/has/is/?] expanded historians' understanding
  • of Bronze Age trade networks in the region.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The sentence is about:

• 'The cuneiform tablets'
  • These are ancient clay tablets with wedge-shaped writing

These tablets have two important characteristics:

• 'discovered in 2022 at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Lagash'
  • They're recent discoveries from a specific archaeological site
• 'which detail economic transactions between neighboring city-states'
  • They contain records of trade and business dealings between ancient cities

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

• 'The cuneiform tablets _____ historians' understanding...'

Let's look at our choices:

• A. has expanded (singular)
• B. expands (singular)
• C. is expanding (singular)
• D. have expanded (plural)

What do we notice?

• The subject of this sentence is 'The cuneiform tablets'
  • 'Tablets' is plural - we're talking about multiple tablets
• The verb needs to match this plural subject
  • Even though there's a lot of descriptive information between 'tablets' and the blank, the verb still needs to agree with 'tablets'

So we need have expanded - the plural verb that matches the plural subject 'tablets.'

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

• The tablets 'have expanded historians' understanding of Bronze Age trade networks in the region'
  • These discoveries have helped historians better understand how trade worked in that ancient time period

Grammar Concept Applied

Subject-Verb Agreement with Intervening Modifiers

When descriptive phrases or clauses come between a subject and its verb, the verb must still match the subject in number. The key is to identify the true subject and not be distracted by other nouns that appear in between.

Strategy:

1. Find the main subject of the sentence
2. Mentally "bracket off" any descriptive material between the subject and verb
3. Make sure the verb agrees with the actual subject

Example Pattern:

• With intervening material: The tablets [discovered in 2022] [which detail transactions] have expanded understanding
  • Subject: tablets (plural)
  • Verb: have expanded (plural) ✓
• Without intervening material: The tablets have expanded understanding
  • The agreement becomes obvious when you remove the middle descriptive phrases

In our question:

• Subject: "The cuneiform tablets" (plural)
• Intervening modifiers: "discovered in 2022..." and "which detail..."
• Correct verb: "have expanded" (plural)

Even though words like "Lagash," "transactions," and "city-states" appear between the subject and verb, these are all part of descriptive phrases. The verb must agree with "tablets," not with these other nouns.