<p>This was a sentence error question in the writing section in one of my SAT books:</p>
<p>Behind(A) the stage were(B) the props, dressing rooms, rack of costumes, and a place(C) for all of the actors and actresses to relax and rest (D) between acts. (E) No error </p>
<p>I think the sentence is error free but the book says it's B. This is the explenation they give:
When the subject of the sentence (stage) follows the verb, he verb still takes its number from the subject. Because stage is singular, the verb needs to be singular too. Were should be was.</p>
<p>But isn't Behind the sence a prepositional phrase??? How can a prepositional phrase be a subject of the verb???</p>
<p>Please help me!!! I am really confused!</p>
<p>The explanation is completely wrong. Stop using the book you got this question from. Stick to The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board, the company which makes the SAT. </p>
<p>First of all, you are right. “Behind the stage” is a prepositional phrase, and the verb “were” is indeed supposed to be plural, since the subject is also plural (“the props…”).</p>
<p>Anyway, the nouns of the subject need to be parallel. Here is the original subject:
the props, dressing rooms, rack of costumes, and a place . . .
This is wrong because the article the is supposed to carry over to every element (noun phrase) of the list, meaning a phrase like the cars, trucks, and bicycles translates roughly into the cars, the trucks, and the bicycles. But in the phrase the props, dressing rooms, rack of costumes, and a place, there is a conflict in the carry-over because of the article a right before the word “place.”</p>
<p>You can correct this conflict by just using an article (either the or a) before every element.</p>
<p>Here’s one correction:
the props, the dressing rooms, a rack of costumes, and a place . . .</p>
<p>Other than the problem with article parallelism, there is no problem with the sentence.</p>