Select the most appropriate option to fill in the blanks. Each of the…

Concept

A verb agrees in number with the head word of its own subject, not with any noun that merely sits inside a following of-phrase. The distributive “each” (as in “each of + plural noun”) is grammatically singular, so it takes a singular verb, while the plural noun after “of” only modifies it. A plural subject such as the pronoun “they” takes the plain present form of the verb, without the third-person -s, and two verbs joined by “and” under one subject stay in the same form.

Application

1. First blank: the subject is “Each of the participants”, whose head word is the singular distributive “each”, so the singular present form of “be” is required — “is required”. The plural “participants” sits inside the of-phrase and does not govern the verb.

2. Second blank: the subject of the next sentence is “They”, a plural pronoun, so the verb keeps the plain present form with no -s ending — “prepare”.

3. Third blank: “… and ___ it to the coordinator” is joined by “and” to the same subject “They”, so it stays parallel with “prepare” and also takes the plain present form — “send”.

Filled in, the passage reads: “Each of the participants is required to submit their report before Friday. They prepare the report in the format given and send it to the coordinator via email.” — that is, is ; prepare ; send.

Cross-check

• Substitution test: replace “each of the participants” with “every one of them” and the verb that fits is “is”, which confirms the singular concord after “each”.

• “are ; prepares ; sends” needs a plural head word for “are”, but the head here is the singular “each”; and the third-person -s on “prepares”/“sends” cannot follow the plural subject “They”.

• “is ; prepares ; send” puts the third-person -s on a verb whose subject is the plural “They”, and it also breaks the parallel with the plain form “send” that follows “and”.

• “are ; prepared ; sent” would make the second sentence a simple-past narration, which is grammatical in its own right; the set breaks down at the first blank, where the singular head word “each” still requires a singular verb rather than “are”.