To the disappointment of the crowd neither the president nor any of his aides were able to attend the ceremony Is this phrase correct specifically the were part?

Answer 1

The sentence is incorrect. The correct version is:

'To the disappointment of the crowd, neither the president nor any of his aides was able to attend the ceremony.'

'Neither' takes the singular form of the verb, not the plural, if the subjects are singular. 'The president' is singular, and 'any of his aides' is singular.

However, if at least one of the subjects is plural, so is the verb:

'Neither my parents nor my cousins were able to come to my party.'

'Neither my parents nor my cousin were able to come to my party.'

But:

'Neither of my parents was able to come to my party.'