Why E is correct and D not
In his Uses of Enchantment (1976), it was psychologist Bruno
Bettelheim’s assertion that the apparently cruel and arbitrary
nature of many fairy tales actually are an instructive reflection of
a child’s natural and necessary “killing off” of successive phases
in his or her own development.
A. it was psychologist Bruno Bettelheim’s assertion that the
apparently cruel and arbitrary nature of many fairy tales
actually are
B. it was the assertion of psychologist Bruno Bettelheim that
what is apparently the cruel and arbitrary nature of many
fairy tales actually is
C. psychologist Bruno Bettelheim’s assertion that what is
apparently the cruel and arbitrary nature of many fairy tales
actually is
D. psychologist Bruno Bettelheim asserted that the apparently
cruel and arbitrary nature of many fairy tales actually are
E. psychologist Bruno Bettelheim asserted that the apparently
cruel and arbitrary nature of many fairy tales is actually
Cruel and arbitrary nature (and as a conjunction) so, it should be plural subject and thus plural verb should be used (are)
Hi Shilpi,
In the below sentence,
Shilpi ______ a sincere and hardworking person.
Do we fill the blank with “is” or “are”? You most probably said “is”
But isn’t sincere and hardworking connected by the conjunction “and”? Doesn’t matter because the subject here is “Shilpi”
In the sentence you have posted, the subject is “nature”. Cruel and arbitrary are adjectives that describe nature. The nature of many fairy tales “is” cruel and arbitraty
Hope this helps!
Both optons D and E talk about nature of many fairy tales which is both cruel and arbitrary. But “nature” is singular. Thus verb takes singular form.
If I say “nature is cruel and arbitrary”, the subject “nature” does not become plural because I mentioned it’s two qualities (cruel, arbitrary). Subject in this sentence is thus singular.
“Cruel” and “arbitrary” are adjectives that modify singular “nature”. Hence verb takes singular form.
Hope this helps.