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Difficulty: EasyPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Which pronoun correctly fills the blank in the sentence: 'After the final whistle blew, every player on the boys' soccer team gathered _____ equipment from the bench'?

  1. hisAnswer
  2. B
    their
  3. C
    its
  4. D
    them

Answer

The pronoun 'his' correctly completes the sentence because the antecedent 'every player' is singular and refers to a member of a male team.
The quantifier 'every' makes the noun phrase 'every player' grammatically singular. Since the sentence specifies a male athletic team, the singular masculine possessive pronoun 'his' maintains strict pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent of the missing pronoun.
The antecedent is 'every player'.
The pronoun in the blank indicates ownership of the equipment belonging to each player.
2
Determine the grammatical number and gender of the antecedent.
The determiner 'every' specifies a singular noun phrase ('every player'), and 'boys' soccer team' indicates male gender.
Indefinite determiners such as 'every' take singular pronoun agreement in standard formal English.
3
Select the pronoun that matches the antecedent in number, gender, and case.
The third-person singular masculine possessive pronoun 'his' is required.
It agrees with the singular antecedent in person, gender, and possessive case.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Singular Indefinite Modifiers
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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