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Difficulty: HardPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Fill in the blank with the pronoun that maintains strict grammatical pronoun-antecedent agreement in formal standard English.

Answer:Each of the female delegates, along with the regional coordinators, submitted 【her】 report before the plenary session began.

Answer

The correct pronoun to fill the blank is 'her'.
In formal English, the indefinite pronoun 'Each' functions as a singular grammatical antecedent. Intervening parenthetical or prepositional expressions such as 'along with the regional coordinators' do not alter the singular agreement requirement of the main subject. Since the context specifies 'female delegates', the singular possessive pronoun 'her' correctly maintains singular, feminine agreement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the true grammatical antecedent of the missing pronoun.
The core subject and antecedent is the indefinite pronoun 'Each'.
The intervening phrase 'along with the regional coordinators' is introduced by a prepositional expression and does not change the subject from singular to plural.
2
Determine the number and gender required for pronoun concord.
'Each' is grammatically singular, and the noun phrase 'female delegates' establishes feminine gender.
Indefinite pronouns such as 'each', 'every', and 'either' take singular pronouns in formal English.
3
Select the corresponding singular possessive pronoun.
The singular feminine possessive pronoun 'her' matches the antecedent in number and gender.
Using a plural pronoun like 'their' creates an error of pronoun-antecedent number discord.

Key Concept

Pronoun-antecedent agreement with indefinite pronoun subjects and intervening phrases
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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