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Difficulty: MediumPronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Each of the structural engineers who reviewed the blueprint expressed their concerns regarding the stability of the foundation.

Which of the following options is the best replacement for the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. his or herAnswer
  3. C
    he or she
  4. D
    they're

Answer

his or her
The possessive pronoun 'his or her' is correct because it is singular, which properly agrees with the singular indefinite pronoun antecedent 'Each'. The intervening prepositional phrase 'of the structural engineers' does not change the fact that the subject of the clause is singular.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent of the pronoun in the sentence.
The antecedent is 'Each', which is a singular indefinite pronoun.
The pronoun must agree in number (singular or plural) with its antecedent.
2
Determine the role of the pronoun in the sentence to identify the correct case.
The pronoun modifies the noun 'concerns', indicating possession, so a possessive pronoun is required.
The correct form must be both singular and possessive.
3
Evaluate the choices to find the singular possessive pronoun.
The phrase 'his or her' is singular and possessive, which matches the antecedent 'Each'. The plural pronoun 'their' and its contraction homophone 'they're' are incorrect, while the subjective pronoun 'he or she' has the wrong grammatical case.
Only the singular possessive form maintains grammatical correctness under formal writing conventions.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Indefinite Pronouns
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Topics

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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