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Soru

Zorluk: OrtaPronoun-Antecedent Agreement

After conducting a three-year study in the North Pacific, the delegation of environmental scientists presented their findings on microplastic accumulation to the United Nations committee.

Which choice best maintains standard written English conventions?

  1. A
    their
  2. itsCevap
  3. C
    it's
  4. D
    its'

Cevap

The pronoun must be 'its' to agree with the singular collective noun 'delegation'.
The correct answer is the singular possessive pronoun 'its'. The antecedent is the singular collective noun 'delegation'. Although the intervening prepositional phrase 'of environmental scientists' contains the plural noun 'scientists', it does not alter the singular grammatical number of the subject. A singular possessive pronoun is required to modify 'findings'.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the antecedent that the pronoun refers to.
The antecedent is the collective noun 'delegation'.
The pronoun must show possession of the findings presented by this specific group.
2
Determine if the antecedent is singular or plural, ignoring the intervening prepositional phrase.
The noun 'delegation' is singular, and the intervening phrase 'of environmental scientists' does not affect its grammatical number.
Collective nouns are typically singular in standard written English unless the members are acting individually, which is not the case here.
3
Select the correct singular possessive pronoun that matches the non-human antecedent.
The correct pronoun is 'its'.
The possessive pronoun 'its' is singular and agrees with 'delegation', unlike the plural 'their', the contraction 'it's', or the incorrect form 'its''.

Anahtar Kavram

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Collective Nouns and Intervening Phrases
Tahmini Süre:45s
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Konular

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

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