Question

Choose the grammatically correct sentence from the following:

• A. The state of his affairs were such as to cause anxiety to his creditors.
• B. The state of his affairs was such as to cause anxiety to his creditors.
• C. The state of his affairs are such as to cause anxiety to his creditors.
• D. The state of his affairs are such as to cause anxiety to his creditors.

Hint:

In subject-verb agreement, ignore prepositional phrases like “of his affairs” when deciding verb number — focus on the main subject.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

We need to determine correct subject-verb agreement.
The subject is “The state,” which is singular, even though “affairs” is plural — “affairs” is part of a prepositional phrase “of his affairs,” and does not affect the verb form.
Since the subject “state” is singular, the verb must also be singular — “was,” not “were” or “are.”
This eliminates options (A), (C), and (D) because they use plural verbs “were” or “are.”
Option (B) correctly matches singular “state” with singular “was” and is therefore grammatically correct.