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Difficulty: HardPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Select the pronoun that correctly completes the sentence in accordance with standard formal English rules of pronoun-antecedent agreement:

"Neither of the senior diplomats who attended the international peace summit was willing to compromise _____ position on the disputed territorial clause."

  1. A
    their
  2. hisAnswer
  3. C
    there
  4. D
    themselves

Answer

The correct option is the singular possessive pronoun 'his'.
In standard formal English, the indefinite pronoun 'Neither' is singular and functions as the true antecedent of the sentence. Intervening phrases like 'of the senior diplomats' do not alter the number of the head antecedent. Therefore, the singular possessive pronoun 'his' is required to maintain grammatical agreement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the true grammatical antecedent in the main clause.
The subject of the sentence is the indefinite pronoun 'Neither'. The phrase 'of the senior diplomats' is a prepositional phrase modifying 'Neither', and 'who attended the international peace summit' is a relative clause.
Indefinite pronouns such as 'neither', 'either', 'each', and 'everyone' are grammatically singular in standard formal English.
2
Determine the correct pronoun form required for agreement.
Because the antecedent ('Neither') is singular, the pronoun modifying 'position' must also be singular and possessive.
A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number and case.
3
Evaluate the choices against formal agreement rules.
The form 'his' maintains singular possessive agreement, whereas 'their' and 'themselves' introduce plural concord errors, and 'there' is a homophonous adverb.
Formal English requires strict singular pronoun concord with singular indefinite pronouns.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun-Antecedent Concord
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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