SC885 Section B - #17

[Cheesecake]

17. During the first nine months of 1979, textbook publishers incurred substantial costs for creating products that, due to a decline in public funding for instructional material, never were sold.

(A) funding for instructional material, never were
(B) funding for instructional material, never was
(C) funding, the instructional material, was never
(D) funding for instructional material, the products were never
(E) funding, they were never

Answer: A

I picked "C" can someone explain why use "were"??
Is "were" referring to "textbook publishers"?? What is referring to "sold"??

[Grace]

The subject is "products" rather than "textbook publisheres".
Only products can be sold; publisher cannot be sold. So the be V should be plural.