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Difficulty: MediumPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Neither of the two solar power plants has operated at _____ full capacity since the recent grid failure. Which pronoun correctly completes the sentence to maintain proper grammatical agreement with its antecedent?

  1. itsAnswer
  2. B
    their
  3. C
    they're
  4. D
    theirs

Answer

The possessive pronoun 'its' correctly completes the sentence because the head antecedent is the singular indefinite pronoun 'Neither'.
The sentence requires a singular possessive pronoun to agree with the subject antecedent 'Neither', which is grammatically singular. The word 'its' properly modifies 'full capacity' and maintains singular agreement.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the head grammatical subject and antecedent of the missing pronoun.
The head antecedent is the indefinite pronoun 'Neither', not the plural noun 'plants' inside the prepositional phrase 'of the two solar power plants'.
Nouns inside prepositional phrases modifying a subject do not change the grammatical number of the head antecedent.
2
Determine the grammatical number and person required for the pronoun.
The pronoun must be third-person singular and neuter possessive.
'Neither' is a singular indefinite pronoun when referring to two non-human entities (power plants).
3
Select the pronoun form that fulfills these agreement constraints.
'its' is the correct singular possessive form.
'its' modifies 'full capacity' while establishing exact agreement with 'Neither'.

Key Concept

Indefinite Pronoun Concord with Prepositional Modifiers
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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