Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Which pronoun grammatically completes the sentence below while adhering strictly to standard rules of pronoun-antecedent agreement?

Answer:The principal female archivist, together with the assistant curators, refused to release 【her】 restricted historical document without written authorization.

Answer

The correct pronoun is 'her'.
The singular feminine possessive pronoun 'her' accurately agrees in number and gender with the singular head noun 'principal female archivist'. Prepositional phrases such as 'together with the assistant curators' function as intervening parenthetical modifiers and do not render the grammatical subject plural.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary grammatical antecedent (head noun) in the sentence.
The head noun is 'The principal female archivist', which is singular and feminine.
Phrases introduced by expressions like 'together with' form parenthetical modifiers, not compound subjects.
2
Analyze the intervening modifier to determine if it alters the grammatical number of the subject.
The phrase 'together with the assistant curators' is a prepositional modifier and does not make the subject plural.
In standard English grammar, subject-pronoun concord is governed strictly by the main head noun, disregarding prepositional adjuncts.
3
Select the possessive pronoun that matches the singular feminine antecedent in person, number, and gender.
The singular feminine possessive pronoun 'her' is required.
Using 'her' maintains accurate pronoun-antecedent agreement with 'principal female archivist'.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Intervening Parenthetical Expressions
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Rate this question

Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

More questions from this topic