What is the verb of this sentence? "The first thing Rainsford’s eyes discerned was the largest man he had ever seen."

I know the subject is "eyes", but i dont know if the verb is Discerned or was.

dickinson punctuation and lines in her poems to establish a rhythm. each reader will naturally find themselves reading the poem in the same way. she uses the repeating question marks and exclamation points to convey the passion in her words. shelley uses punctuation to paint a picture in the reader's mind. for example, the ellipses after "stand in the dessert" evoke a silence, as it would feel in a deserted, old place.

the answer is culture