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Difficulty: MediumPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

During the annual fiscal audit, neither the chief treasurer nor the branch managers could produce _____ verification documents for the disputed transactions. Which pronoun correctly completes the sentence?

  1. A
    his or her
  2. theirAnswer
  3. C
    its
  4. D
    one's

Answer

The possessive pronoun 'their' correctly completes the sentence.
In standard formal English, when singular and plural antecedents are connected by correlative conjunctions such as 'neither... nor' or 'either... or', the pronoun must agree in number with the antecedent closer to it. Here, the plural noun phrase 'the branch managers' immediately precedes the blank, requiring the third-person plural possessive pronoun 'their'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedents and the connecting correlative conjunction.
The antecedents are 'the chief treasurer' (singular) and 'the branch managers' (plural), joined by 'neither... nor'.
Correlative conjunctions connecting compound subjects determine agreement based on specific proximity rules.
2
Apply the rule of proximity for compound antecedents joined by 'neither... nor'.
The pronoun must agree with the closer antecedent, 'the branch managers', which is plural.
Standard formal English syntax dictates that when a singular and a plural noun are joined by 'neither... nor', the pronoun takes the number of the nearest noun.
3
Select the possessive pronoun that matches the plural antecedent.
The third-person plural possessive pronoun 'their' is chosen.
It maintains accurate grammatical agreement with 'branch managers'.

Key Concept

Pronoun-antecedent agreement with compound subjects joined by correlative conjunctions (rule of proximity).
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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