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Question

Difficulty: HardPronoun-Antecedent Agreement

The following sentence contains a blank where a pronoun has been omitted. Identify the pronoun that agrees in number and person with its noun antecedent to logically complete the sentence.

Answer:The consortium of research universities, which had spent years securing federal funding for the deep-space telescope, finally launched 【its】 primary satellite.

Answer

its
The correct pronoun is the singular possessive 'its' because the antecedent 'consortium' is a singular collective noun.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent that the missing pronoun refers to.
The pronoun refers back to the subject phrase 'The consortium of research universities', where the head noun is the collective noun 'consortium'.
A pronoun must agree in number (singular or plural) with the noun or noun phrase it replaces.
2
Determine the grammatical number of the antecedent.
The head noun 'consortium' is a singular collective noun representing a single unified organization.
Although the consortium consists of multiple member universities, the group operates as a single entity in this context.
3
Select the singular possessive pronoun that matches the neuter, singular noun.
The singular possessive pronoun is 'its'.
'Its' is singular and neutral, which properly aligns with the singular collective noun 'consortium'.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
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Topics

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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