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Interesting Subject Verb agreement question

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by speedupgmat » Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:59 am
A) Just around the corner is a bakery and a supermarket.
or
B) Just around the corner are a bakery and a supermarket.

Which one is correct?

I feel it should be A) since the nearest subject here to the verb "IS" is bakery and "a bakery" being singular.

Please reply.

Thanks,
SpeedUpGMAT
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Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by e-GMAT » Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:22 am
This sentence is an example in which the order of subject and verb is changed. In such scenarios (and otherwise as well), it is best to first identify the verb and then the subject.

Verb - IS
Subject - Ask the question - Who/what is performing the action represented by the identified verb -
What IS?
A bakery and a supermarket IS just around the corner.

As you can see the subject is - A bakery and a supermarket = Singular noun and Singular noun = PLURAL NOUN

So the correct sentence is
A bakery and a supermarket ARE just around the corner.
Just around the corner ARE a bakery and a supermarket.
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by speedupgmat » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:17 am
Thanks a lot eGMAT. very clear explanation.

Cheers,
SpeedUpGMAT
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