Three Marks from Four Edits
An editing task gives a four-sentence paragraph and awards 1 mark for each corrected error, up to 3 marks. No mark is given for changing correct text, and any change that alters meaning cancels that mark. The paragraph reads: 'Each of the students have submitted their project. The teacher, along with the lab assistants, were checking the charts. Neither the charts nor the model was labelled. The principal said that the exhibition will begin at 10 a.m.' A student makes four changes: 'have' to 'has'; 'were' to 'was'; 'was' to 'were'; 'will' to 'would'. The teacher must award 3 marks from four edits and explain why one edit is not just unnecessary but harmful. The student argues that 'Neither...nor' always takes a plural verb and that 'was' is wrong. The class has 90 seconds per script.
1. Which three edits should earn marks, and why is the fourth edit wrong rather than merely unnecessary?
Read the worked answer
Mark 'have' to 'has' because the subject 'Each' is singular; 'of the students' is a prepositional phrase and does not change the number. Mark 'were' to 'was' because the subject 'teacher' is singular; 'along with the lab assistants' does not compound the subject. Mark 'will' to 'would' because reported speech after 'said' shifts future to conditional. Do not mark 'was' to 'were' in 'Neither the charts nor the model was labelled': with neither...nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject, 'model', which is singular, so 'was' is correct. The edit is harmful because it 'corrects' a correct verb and changes the sentence's agreement logic; under the rule, it cancels that mark and shows the student is applying a false rule that neither...nor always takes a plural verb.
2. The student says 'Neither...nor always takes a plural verb.' Write a 50-word explanation you could give the class that prevents this overgeneralisation.
Read the worked answer
With 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it. 'Neither the charts nor the model was labelled' is correct because 'model' is singular. 'Neither the model nor the charts were labelled' is also correct because 'charts' is plural. The conjunction does not force plurality; position does. Check the nearer noun before changing the verb.