That her hometown was a bleak place, and doesnt know why she would think back on it
A direct object is a noun, pronoun or group of words serving as the receiving end of an action. So in this case,
Settlers (answer!)
This should be the answer as settlers are at the receiving end of the protection from the judge! :)
The pair of verb forms which correctly completes the sentence is the following one:
A. are; appears.
The complete sentence would look like this:
"Mercury and Venus are relatively close to the sun, and neither Mercury nor Venus appears to support life."
In the first clause, the subject is formed by "Mercury and Venus", which means it is plural, and therefore it requires a plural verb (<em>Mercury and Venus</em> are= <em>They</em> are).
In the second clause, there is a neither...nor construction, and both elements which form the subject (again, <em>Mercury and Venus</em>, but this time used in the construction <u>neither</u><u><em> Mercury </em></u><u>nor</u><u><em> Venus</em></u>) are singular nouns, which means a singular verb must be used: neither Mercury nor Venus <em>appears</em>.
I believe your answer is D my friend.. good luck! :)