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Difficulty: MediumPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

During the orientation exercise, every candidate among the shortlisted applicants was instructed to submit _____ credentials to the screening officer. Which of the following pronouns correctly completes the sentence?

  1. A
    their
  2. his or herAnswer
  3. C
    its
  4. D
    theirs

Answer

The singular possessive phrase 'his or her' correctly completes the sentence.
The antecedent of the pronoun is the singular subject 'every candidate'. In formal written English, indefinite expressions modified by 'every' take singular pronouns. Therefore, the singular possessive construction 'his or her' is grammatically correct.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the true grammatical antecedent of the blank space.
The head subject is 'every candidate', modified by the prepositional phrase 'among the shortlisted applicants'.
Prepositional phrases following the head noun do not alter the grammatical number of the subject.
2
Determine the grammatical number of the antecedent.
'Every candidate' is a singular indefinite subject requiring a singular possessive pronoun.
Indefinite determiners such as 'every' or 'each' render the noun singular in formal English grammar.
3
Select the pronoun option that maintains singular number and appropriate person/gender agreement.
'his or her' is the correct singular possessive determiner.
It maintains singular pronoun-antecedent agreement without assuming gender or incorrectly introducing plural forms.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement
Estimated Time:50s
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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