OG 219 主谓一致讨论

maudemink

219.While larger banks can afford to maintain their own data-processing operations, many smaller regional and community banks are finding that the cost associated with upgrading data-processing equipment and with the development and maintenance of new products and technical staff are prohibitive.
(A) cost associated with
(B) costs associated with
(C) costs arising from
(D) cost of
(E) costs of

答案是B没问题，但是个人觉得这题的主语是the cost(s)...and maintenance...，是个compound subject，因此即便cost是单数应该也可以使用复数谓语are，看这种理解对不对，谢谢！

sdcar2010

No.

development and maintenance is a compound subject.

maudemink

嗯是我看错了，主语是cost associate with...and with development and maintenace...
我主要问的就是，这的确是个复合主语吧，不管cost还是costs，最后的谓语都是复数形式，对吧？