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Difficulty: MediumPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Which pronoun correctly completes the sentence below to maintain proper grammatical agreement in standard formal English?

Answer:The jury reached a unanimous verdict after deliberating for three hours, declaring that 【its】 final decision would be delivered to the presiding judge immediately.

Answer

The correct pronoun to complete the blank is 'its'.
The antecedent is the collective noun 'jury'. Because the sentence specifies that the verdict was unanimous, the jury functioned as a single, unified entity, requiring the singular neuter possessive pronoun 'its'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent for the missing pronoun.
The antecedent is the collective noun phrase 'The jury'.
The missing pronoun refers back to the entity making and delivering the decision.
2
Determine whether the collective noun operates as a single entity or as separate individuals.
The context of reaching a 'unanimous verdict' shows that the jury is acting as a single, unified unit.
Collective nouns take singular verbs and singular pronouns when the group acts as one body.
3
Select the appropriate singular possessive pronoun.
The neuter singular possessive pronoun 'its' correctly agrees with the singular collective antecedent.
Using a plural pronoun or contraction would violate standard formal agreement rules.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Collective Nouns
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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