JusTLucK04
Neither of my aunts, both of whom visited Venice last spring, want to return.
(A) visited Venice last spring, want
(B) have visited Venice last spring, want
(C) had visited Venice last spring, want
(D) visited Venice last spring, wants
(E) have visited Venice last spring, wants
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The underline is pretty short, so you may want to compare the answers before reading the question stem. There are two main splits in the answer choices: visited/have visited/has visited, and want/wants. In the original sentence, visited is correct.
The main verb want, however, is problematic. Any noun in a prepositional phrase, such as of my aunts, cannot be the subject of a sentence. Nor can a noun in a modifier (both of whom visited Venice last spring). The subject of the sentence must be neither, which is always singular (think of it as "neither one"), so the singular wants is the correct verb.
(A) The singular subject neither does not match the plural verb want.
(B) The singular subject neither does not match the plural verb want. In addition, have visited is the wrong tense. It is possible in general to say that two people have visited Venice. This construction, however, should not be attached to a specific time frame (last spring). Either they visited last spring or they have visited at some unspecified time in the past.
(C) The singular subject neither does not match the plural verb want. The construction had visited is also incorrect; the usage of past perfect requires a second past event or time marker that takes place later in the past than the past perfect event. Last spring is when they visited, not later in the past, and the sentence does not contain another past time marker or simple past tense verb.
(D) CORRECT. The singular subject neither matches the singular verb wants.
(E) The singular subject neither matches the singular verb wants. However, have visited is the wrong tense. It is possible in general to say that two people have visited Venice. This construction, however, should not be attached to a specific time frame (last spring). Either they visited last spring or they have visited at some unspecified time in the past.