Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

When an investigator undertakes a complex forensic audit, one must refrain from allowing _____ personal biases to influence the outcome of the inquiry. Which pronoun correctly maintains pronoun-antecedent agreement in the sentence above?

  1. A
    his
  2. B
    their
  3. one'sAnswer
  4. D
    ones

Answer

The possessive pronoun 'one's' correctly completes the sentence by maintaining consistent agreement with the indefinite pronoun antecedent 'one'.
In standard formal English, when the indefinite pronoun 'one' serves as the antecedent, any referring possessive modifier must remain consistent by taking the form 'one's'. This avoids arbitrary gender assignment and maintains stylistic and grammatical uniformity.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent of the missing possessive pronoun in the sentence.
The subject/antecedent is the indefinite pronoun 'one'.
Pronouns must agree in number, person, and formal consistency with their antecedents.
2
Apply the formal rule of English grammar regarding the indefinite pronoun 'one'.
When 'one' is used as an indefinite pronoun antecedent, any subsequent pronoun referring back to it must also use 'one' (or 'one's' for possessive).
Shifting from 'one' to 'his', 'her', or 'their' breaks grammatical consistency in standard formal English.
3
Select the correct possessive form of 'one'.
The possessive determiner form is 'one's', written with an apostrophe before the 's'.
The form 'ones' is a plural noun form, whereas 'one's' expresses ownership or reference back to 'one'.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Agreement and Consistency with 'One'
Rate this question

Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

More questions from this topic