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Difficulty: MediumPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Complete the sentence below by supplying the correct pronoun that agrees with its antecedent.

Answer:Neither the lead scientist nor the research assistants could locate 【their】 laboratory notes after the power outage.

Answer

their
When two antecedents are joined by the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor', the pronoun must agree with the nearer antecedent. Since 'research assistants' is plural and stands closest to the blank, the third-person plural possessive pronoun 'their' is required.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the compound antecedent in the sentence structure.
The antecedent consists of 'the lead scientist' (singular) and 'the research assistants' (plural) joined by the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor'.
When subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the pronoun must agree in number with the closer antecedent.
2
Determine the closer antecedent to the blank.
'the research assistants' is plural and is the element closest to the blank position.
The proximity rule dictates agreement with the nearer subject element.
3
Select the possessive pronoun that matches the plural antecedent.
The plural possessive pronoun 'their' correctly agrees with 'research assistants'.
'Their' maintains proper numerical and grammatical agreement in formal English.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Correlative Conjunctions (Proximity Rule)
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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