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Difficulty: EasyPronoun Clarity and Reference

During the afternoon excursion, the tour guide led the group of visitors through the ancient temple ruins. He pointed to the stone statues positioned near the towering columns. They had been carved from imported marble centuries ago.

Which choice best maintains clarity and grammatical correctness in the underlined portion of the passage?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    it
  3. the statuesAnswer
  4. D
    this

Answer

Replacing the underlined pronoun with the specific noun phrase 'the statues' clarifies the sentence by identifying exactly what was carved from marble.
The correct answer replaces the ambiguous pronoun with the explicit noun phrase 'the statues'. This makes it clear that the statues—and not the columns—were carved from imported marble, resolving any potential confusion.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the underlined pronoun and locate its potential antecedents in the preceding context.
The underlined pronoun is 'They', and the preceding sentence contains two plural nouns: 'stone statues' and 'towering columns'.
To evaluate pronoun clarity, you must check if the pronoun has a single, clear, and grammatically matching noun antecedent.
2
Evaluate the answer choices to see which option replaces the ambiguous pronoun with a clear and precise term.
Replacing 'They' with the specific noun phrase 'the statues' resolves the ambiguity. The options 'NO CHANGE', 'it', and 'this' either preserve the ambiguity or introduce a new reference error.
If a pronoun can refer to more than one noun, it must be replaced by the specific noun it represents to maintain sentence clarity.

Key Concept

Pronoun Clarity and Reference
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Topics

Pronoun Clarity and Reference

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