Neither her associates nor the doctor __________ the surgery is necessary.
thinks
think
With a "neither . . . nor" construction, the subject is singular.
Would you say?
She thinks
or
She think
thinks
To determine the correct verb form to fill in the blank, we need to consider the subject of the sentence. In this case, the subject is "neither her associates nor the doctor."
When "neither...nor" is used to connect two subjects, the verb agrees with the subject that is closer to it. In this sentence, the subject closest to the verb is "the doctor."
Now, since the subject is singular (the doctor), we need to use the singular form of the verb. The correct verb form to fill in the blank is "thinks."
So, the correct sentence is:
"Neither her associates nor the doctor thinks the surgery is necessary."