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Difficulty: EasyPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct possessive pronoun that agrees with its antecedent.

Answer:Either the chief editor or the journalists will present 【their】 investigation reports at the press conference.

Answer

their
When two antecedents are joined by 'either...or', the pronoun must agree in number with the antecedent nearer to it. Since the plural noun 'journalists' is closer to the blank than the singular 'chief editor', the plural possessive pronoun 'their' is required.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the compound antecedent structure in the sentence.
The antecedents 'the chief editor' (singular) and 'the journalists' (plural) are connected by the correlative conjunction 'either...or'.
Recognizing how the antecedents are joined determines which agreement rule applies.
2
Apply the rule of proximity for compound antecedents joined by 'either...or'.
The pronoun must agree in number with the antecedent closest to the blank, which is the plural noun 'journalists'.
When subjects of different numbers are connected by 'either...or' or 'neither...nor', the pronoun agrees with the nearer noun.
3
Choose the correct possessive pronoun for the plural noun.
The plural possessive pronoun 'their' correctly completes the sentence.
'Their' matches the plural noun 'journalists' in both person and number.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Correlative Conjunctions
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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