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Question

Difficulty: MediumPronoun-Antecedent Agreement

The ancient library of Alexandria, which once housed hundreds of thousands of papyrus scrolls, was renowned in the ancient world for their unparalleled collection of knowledge.

Which of the following choices is the grammatically correct replacement for the underlined word?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. itsAnswer
  3. C
    it's
  4. D
    they're

Answer

its
The correct answer is the singular possessive pronoun 'its'. The antecedent of the pronoun is the singular, neuter noun 'library'. An intervening descriptive clause ('which once housed...') separates the antecedent from the pronoun, but the pronoun must still agree with the singular noun 'library'. Therefore, the singular possessive pronoun 'its' is the grammatically correct choice.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent of the underlined pronoun.
The antecedent is 'library', which is a singular, neuter noun.
Pronouns must agree in number (singular or plural) and gender with the noun they replace or refer to.
2
Determine the necessary grammatical form of the pronoun.
The sentence requires a singular possessive pronoun to describe the collection belonging to the library.
The pronoun must indicate possession and match the singular quantity of the antecedent.
3
Evaluate the choices to select the grammatically correct form.
'its' is the correct singular possessive pronoun. The original 'their' is plural, while 'it's' and 'they're' are contractions.
This step eliminates incorrect plural pronouns and contractions that do not show possession.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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