Analyzing the Grammar: 'News' and 'Broadcast'

The original sentence is "The news were broadcasted last evening." We need to examine the underlined part, "were broadcasted," for grammatical correctness, specifically focusing on subject-verb agreement and the correct form of the verb 'broadcast'.

Subject-Verb Agreement with 'News'

The noun 'news', despite ending in '-s', is generally treated as an uncountable singular noun in standard English. Like words such as 'information', 'advice', or 'furniture', it takes a singular verb.

• Incorrect: The news are good.
• Correct: The news is good.

In the given sentence, the subject is 'The news'. Therefore, it requires a singular verb form.

Correct Form of 'Broadcast'

The verb 'broadcast' is an irregular verb. Its past tense and past participle forms are typically the same as the base form: 'broadcast'. While 'broadcasted' is sometimes used, 'broadcast' is the more standard and widely accepted form for both the simple past and the past participle.

• Base form: broadcast
• Simple Past: broadcast (or broadcasted - less common)
• Past Participle: broadcast (or broadcasted - less common)

The sentence uses the passive voice ("were broadcasted") and refers to an action in the past ("last evening"). The passive voice structure for the simple past is 'was/were' + past participle.

Evaluating the Options

Let's look at how the options address these two points:

1. were broadcast

   This option uses the correct past participle 'broadcast'. However, it uses the plural verb 'were'. Since 'news' is singular, 'were' is incorrect for subject-verb agreement.

2. No substitution

   This option suggests the original "were broadcasted" is correct. As discussed, 'were' is incorrect with 'news' and 'broadcasted' is a less preferred/incorrect past participle form. Therefore, substitution is needed.

3. was broadcast

   This option uses the singular verb 'was', which correctly agrees with the singular subject 'The news'. It also uses the correct past participle 'broadcast'. This form fits the past tense passive voice structure for a singular subject.

4. has been broadcasted

   This option uses 'broadcasted', which is generally incorrect. Furthermore, 'has been broadcast' would be the present perfect passive form, which doesn't typically fit with a specific past time marker like "last evening".

Based on the analysis, the most appropriate substitution is "was broadcast" because it correctly uses the singular verb 'was' to agree with the subject 'news' and the standard past participle 'broadcast' in the passive voice.

Conclusion

The correct way to phrase the sentence in the passive voice, referring to the past, is using a singular verb with 'news' and the standard past participle of 'broadcast'.

The sentence should be: "The news was broadcast last evening."

Revision Table: Key Grammar Points

Additional Information: Common Tricky Nouns

Just like 'news', some other nouns ending in '-s' are often treated as singular. It's important to remember these for correct subject-verb agreement.

• Subjects of Study: physics, economics, mathematics, civics, statistics, linguistics.
  • Example: Physics is a difficult subject.
• Diseases: measles, mumps, rabies, diabetes.
  • Example: Measles is a contagious illness.
• Games: billiards, darts, dominoes.
  • Example: Billiards is a game of skill.
• Geographical Names: The United States, The Philippines.
  • Example: The United States is a large country. (Often treated as singular when referring to the country as a whole).

Understanding these exceptions helps improve grammatical accuracy in sentence construction.