Choose the correct alternative which will improve the part of the sentence given in quotes.
Suraj as well as his friends 'was' arrested.

Correct option is D

In the sentence provided, the correct answer is indeed (d) No improvement, based on traditional grammatical rules which consider the verb agreement with the first subject in cases where subjects are connected by "as well as."
· The phrase "Suraj as well as his friends was arrested" uses the singular verb "was" because the main subject of the sentence, "Suraj," is singular.
· The phrase "as well as his friends" is considered additional information and does not change the number of the verb.
· Therefore, the verb should agree with the first subject, which is singular in this case. This is a specific rule that often confuses, as it differs from the usage with "and" where the verb agrees with a plural subject.
Grammatical rule used: When the phrase "as well as" is used, the verb agrees with the noun before it.
This is different from the conjunction "and," which would require the verb to agree in the plural form if it connects two plural subjects or a singular and a plural subject where the plural subject is nearest to the verb.