Every one of the students … to be excited about the excursion.

Step 1: Analyze the question The sentence is: "Every one of the students ___ to be excited about the excursion." We need the verb form that agrees with the subject.

Step 2: Explain the concept (Subject-Verb Agreement)

• The subject is "Every one", which is singular. "Of the students" is only a prepositional phrase that modifies it. It does not change the subject.
• A singular subject takes a singular verb. In the simple present tense, that means a verb ending in -s.
• Verbs of state or perception like seem, appear, know and believe are normally not used in the continuous form (-ing). So "was seeming" and "is seeming" are not standard here.

Step 3: Solve step by step

1. Find the real subject: Every one (singular).
2. Ignore the phrase "of the students". It is a distractor, and the plural noun "students" tempts you to choose a plural verb.
3. Check the options: • A. was seeming: wrong, because "seem" is a stative verb and rarely takes the continuous form. • B. is seeming: wrong for the same reason. • C. seem: plural form, so it does not agree with "every one". • D. seems: singular present tense, so it agrees with "every one".

Step 4: Answer The correct answer is D. seems.

Full sentence: Every one of the students seems to be excited about the excursion.

Tip: Words like every one, each, everybody, someone, neither and either are singular. When you see "Every one of the ___ (plural noun)", cross out the "of..." phrase and match the verb to the first word. Also remember that seem is a stative verb, so avoid its -ing form in most exam questions.