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Difficulty: MediumPronoun Case and Person

During the deep-sea expedition, the chief oceanographer instructed the research assistant and she to verify they're salinity data before publishing the report.

Which of the following is the correct form of the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. her to verify theirAnswer
  3. C
    she to verify their
  4. D
    her to verify they're

Answer

The correct form is 'her to verify their', which uses the objective pronoun 'her' as the object of the verb and the possessive adjective 'their' to modify the noun.
The correct form is 'her to verify their'. The pronoun functions as part of a compound direct object for the verb 'instructed', which requires the objective pronoun 'her'. Additionally, the possessive adjective 'their' is needed to modify the noun 'data'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the correct pronoun case for the compound object 'the research assistant and she/her'.
The compound pronoun serves as the direct object of the verb 'instructed', which requires the objective case pronoun 'her'.
Objective case pronouns are used when the pronoun is receiving the action of the verb.
2
Evaluate the homophone choice between 'they're' and 'their' modifying 'salinity data'.
The possessive adjective 'their' is correct because it shows ownership of the salinity data.
The contraction 'they're' stands for 'they are', which does not make grammatical sense in this context.

Key Concept

Pronoun Case and Person
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Topics

Pronoun Case and Person

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