What is the correct pronunciation of Kiribati? In the Gilbertese language spoken by residents of the island nation, the letter...

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

• What is the correct pronunciation of Kiribati?
• In the Gilbertese language
  • spoken by residents of the island nation,
• the letter combination -ti makes the -s sound;
• as a result,
  • the country's name [?] pronounced 'Kiribas.'

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence asks a straightforward question:

• 'What is the correct pronunciation of Kiribati?'
  • Setting up the topic - how do you say this country's name?

The second sentence gives us background information:

• 'In the Gilbertese language spoken by residents of the island nation,'
  • This tells us about the language used in Kiribati
• 'the letter combination -ti makes the -s sound'
  • Here's the key pronunciation rule - when you see "-ti" in this language, you pronounce it like "s"

Now we get to the third sentence where we need to fill in the blank:

• 'as a result, the country's name ______ pronounced 'Kiribas.''

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at our choices:

• A. are
• B. have been
• C. are being
• D. is

The choices are all different forms of verbs - some singular, some plural.

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The subject of this part is "the country's name"
  • "country's" is just showing possession (the name belonging to the country)
  • The actual subject - the thing we're talking about - is "name"
  • "name" is singular (just one name)
• We need a verb that agrees with this singular subject
  • "is" is singular and matches "name"
  • "are," "have been," and "are being" are all plural forms

So we need is (Choice D).

The complete meaning: Because the letter combination "-ti" sounds like "s" in Gilbertese, the country's name is pronounced "Kiribas" instead of "Kiribati."

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Singular Subjects with Singular Verbs

The fundamental rule is that singular subjects need singular verb forms. When you have a singular noun as your subject, you must use the singular form of the verb.

Pattern:

• Singular subject: The name
• Singular verb needed: is
• Result: "The name is pronounced..."

Not:

• Singular subject: The name
• Plural verb: are
• Result: "The name are pronounced..." (incorrect!)

Watch out for possessives:

When you see a possessive like "the country's name," the possessive word ("country's") isn't the subject - it's just describing whose name it is. The actual subject is the noun that comes after: "name."

In this question:

• Subject: "the country's name"
• The core noun is "name" (singular)
• "country's" just tells us which name
• Verb needed: "is" (singular form)
• Correct sentence: "the country's name is pronounced 'Kiribas'"

This is called subject-verb agreement in grammar terms - making sure your subject and verb match in number (both singular or both plural).