Question

The United States _____ (is/are) a country of contrast​

Answer 1

Answer:

is is the required answer

Answer 2

The United States is a country of contrast. -This is the answer.

About subject-verb agreement:

• In a sentence there must always be an agreement between the subject and the verb.
• That is they should agree with each other in person and number. For example, a third person singular noun must take a third person singular verb: He sees/ she types, etc.,
• In the above example, 'he' and 'she' are third person singular nouns and so they take third person singular verb 'sees' and 'types' respectively.
• If the subject is in singular, then the verb should also be in singular.
• In the sentence given we have to fill in the blank with the right verb given.
• The noun / subject used here is 'United States' should be considered as a singular form of noun, though we have 'States'. We must treat it as a one whole country.
• Thus the verb must also be in singular.
• Therefore the answer is: The United States is a country of contrast.