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Difficulty: MediumPronoun-Antecedent Agreement

To prepare for the upcoming volcanic hazard assessment, the research team deployed several monitoring devices along the mountain's active ridge; however, neither the chief volcanologist nor the field technicians could explain why his equipment failed to record the seismic activity during the initial tremor.

Which of the following options correctly replaces the underlined pronoun to ensure proper grammatical agreement?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. theirAnswer
  3. C
    its
  4. D
    there

Answer

The possessive plural pronoun 'their' is the correct choice to replace the underlined word because it agrees with the closer plural antecedent 'technicians' in the compound subject.
The correct option is the plural possessive pronoun 'their'. In sentences with compound antecedents joined by 'or' or 'nor', the pronoun must agree in number with the closer noun. Here, 'field technicians' is the closer noun and is plural, so the plural pronoun 'their' is grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent of the underlined pronoun.
The pronoun refers back to the compound antecedent 'neither the chief volcanologist nor the field technicians'.
To ensure pronoun-antecedent agreement, we must first locate the noun or nouns to which the pronoun refers.
2
Apply the grammatical rule for compound antecedents joined by 'or' or 'nor'.
Since the antecedents are joined by 'nor', the pronoun must agree in number with the closer noun, which is 'field technicians' (plural).
Standard English grammar dictates that when a singular and a plural noun are joined by 'or' or 'nor', the pronoun agrees with the noun that is physically closer to it.
3
Select the correct plural possessive pronoun from the choices.
The plural possessive pronoun is 'their'.
The sentence requires a possessive pronoun to modify 'equipment', and 'their' is the correct plural possessive form.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Compound Subjects
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Topics

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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