Understanding Subject-Verb Agreement with 'Each'

The original sentence is: 'Each of the candidates have submitted their documents for verification.' The task is to find the best replacement for the underlined part, focusing on grammatical correctness.

A key grammar rule involves subject-verb agreement. When a sentence starts with indefinite pronouns like 'each', 'either', 'neither', 'one', 'anyone', 'everyone', 'someone', etc., the subject is considered singular, even if it's followed by a plural noun in a prepositional phrase (like 'of the candidates').

In this sentence, the subject is 'Each'. 'Each' is always singular.

Analyzing the Verb: 'have' vs 'has'

The original sentence uses the verb 'have submitted'. Since the subject 'Each' is singular, it requires a singular verb.

• 'Have' is a plural verb form.
• 'Has' is the singular verb form.

Therefore, the verb should be 'has submitted' to agree with the singular subject 'Each'.

Examining Pronoun Agreement

The sentence also uses the pronoun 'their'. While 'Each' is singular, using 'their' (a plural pronoun) is common in modern English to avoid gendered language like 'his or her'. Option 3 uses 'their documents', which maintains consistency and is widely accepted.

Evaluating the Options

1. 'had submitted their document': This option changes the verb tense to past perfect ('had submitted') and makes the object singular ('document'). It does not correct the fundamental subject-verb agreement error ('Each have').
2. 'No substitution required': This is incorrect because the original sentence contains a subject-verb agreement error.
3. 'has submitted their documents': This option correctly uses the singular verb 'has submitted', which agrees with the singular subject 'Each'. It keeps the object plural ('documents') and uses the accepted pronoun 'their'. This is the most grammatically suitable option.
4. 'is submitted their documents': This uses the passive voice construction 'is submitted', which doesn't fit the active voice of the sentence. It also incorrectly uses 'is' which doesn't agree with 'Each'.

Conclusion

The most suitable option to replace the underlined part ('have submitted their documents') is 'has submitted their documents' because it correctly aligns the singular subject 'Each' with the singular verb 'has'.