The monarch butterfly is one of nature's most accomplished travelers. During its annual migration, the insect _____ thousands of miles...

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 monarch butterfly is one of nature's most accomplished travelers.
• During its annual migration,
  • the insect
    • [?] thousands of miles across North America,
    • navigates using the sun's position as a compass,
    • and relies on genetic memory passed from previous generations.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence tells us what we're talking about:

• "The monarch butterfly is one of nature's most accomplished travelers."
  • We're discussing the monarch butterfly
  • It's described as a great traveler

Now the second sentence gives us details about its migration:

• "During its annual migration, the insect..."
  • "the insect" refers back to the monarch butterfly
  • This is our subject - and it's singular

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

1. travel
2. travels
3. have traveled
4. is traveling

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The complete sentence tells us three things the insect does:

• "[blank] thousands of miles across North America"
• "navigates using the sun's position as a compass"
• "and relies on genetic memory passed from previous generations"

So we're learning about three amazing abilities:

• It travels long distances
• It navigates using the sun
• It uses inherited memory to find its way

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have three verbs in a series, connected by commas and "and"
  • navigates
  • relies
  • [the blank]
• These three verbs are all describing actions by the same subject: "the insect"
• "navigates" and "relies" are both:
  • singular forms (matching the singular subject "the insect")
  • simple present tense
• The blank needs to match this pattern:
  • It must be singular to agree with "the insect"
  • It must be simple present tense to match "navigates" and "relies"

So we need travels - the singular present tense form that agrees with "the insect" and matches the other two verbs in the series.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Subject-Verb Agreement with Parallel Verb Series

When you have multiple verbs describing actions by the same subject, each verb must:

1. Agree with the subject in number (singular subject needs singular verbs)
2. Maintain parallel structure (same tense and form)

Pattern:

• Subject: the insect (singular)
• Series of verbs: travels, navigates, and relies
• All three are singular present tense
• All three agree with the singular subject

Why this matters:

• Singular subjects take singular verb forms:
  • "the insect travels" (not "the insect travel")
  • "the insect navigates"
  • "the insect relies"
• Parallel structure means keeping the same form:
  • All simple present: travels, navigates, relies
  • NOT mixing: is traveling, navigates, relies

In this question:
The subject "the insect" is singular, and we can see two verbs already in place: "navigates" and "relies" (both singular present tense). The blank must complete this parallel series with another singular present tense verb: "travels."