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Difficulty: MediumPronoun-Antecedent Agreement and Case

Although a colony of leafcutter ants can consist of millions of individual workers, _______ functions as a superorganism, coordinating complex foraging routes to harvest vegetation.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  1. A
    they
  2. B
    their
  3. itAnswer
  4. D
    its

Answer

The singular subject pronoun 'it' correctly completes the sentence by agreeing in number with the singular antecedent 'colony' and serving as the subject of the clause.
The correct option is the singular subject pronoun 'it'. The pronoun refers back to the singular collective noun 'colony', not the plural nouns 'ants' or 'workers' within the prepositional phrases. Therefore, a singular pronoun is required. Additionally, because the pronoun serves as the subject of the verb 'functions', it must be in the subject case rather than the possessive case.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the antecedent of the blank space.
The antecedent is the singular noun phrase 'a colony of leafcutter ants,' where the main noun is the singular collective noun 'colony.'
Finding the noun being replaced by the pronoun determines whether the pronoun must be singular or plural.
2
Determine the grammatical function of the pronoun in the clause.
The pronoun precedes the verb 'functions' and acts as the subject of the independent clause.
Knowing the function of the pronoun helps identify the correct case (subject vs. object or possessive).
3
Select the pronoun that matches both the singular number of the antecedent and the subject case.
The singular subject pronoun 'it' fits both requirements, while plural options like 'they' and 'their' or possessive options like 'its' do not.
Standard English conventions require agreement in both number and grammatical case.

Key Concept

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement and Case
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Topics

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement and Case

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