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Question

Difficulty: MediumPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

What possessive pronoun correctly maintains pronoun-antecedent agreement in the sentence below?

Answer:Neither of the two research committees had submitted 【its】 preliminary report before the deadline elapsed.

Answer

its
The singular possessive pronoun 'its' correctly agrees with the singular indefinite pronoun 'Neither', which functions as the head of the subject phrase. In formal written English, 'neither' is grammatically singular and takes a singular pronoun, even when followed by a prepositional phrase containing a plural noun.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical antecedent of the missing pronoun.
The syntactic subject of the sentence is the indefinite pronoun 'Neither'.
The prepositional phrase 'of the two research committees' modifies the subject but does not change its singular grammatical number.
2
Determine the correct possessive pronoun form to match the singular inanimate antecedent.
The singular possessive pronoun 'its' must be used.
In standard formal English, singular indefinite pronouns such as 'neither' require singular pronouns for agreement. Since 'committees' refers to non-human entities, 'its' is the required pronoun.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Singular Indefinite Pronouns
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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