Question

card 9
the students or the teacher was¹ were² not having fun during a visit from the angry principal.
option 1: was
option 2: were

Explanation:

This is a subject - verb agreement problem. When using "or" to connect two subjects, the verb should agree with the subject closer to it (the rule of proximity). In the sentence "The students or the teacher...", the subject closer to the verb is "the teacher", which is singular. So the correct verb form should be "was".

Answer:

Option 1: was