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Soru

Zorluk: ZorPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Complete the sentence below by filling in the blank with the pronoun that adheres strictly to formal rules of pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Cevap:Neither the lead investigator nor the forensic accountants acknowledged that 【their】 tactical report contained critical errors.

Cevap

their
The correct fill-in word is 'their' because when compound antecedents are joined by the correlative conjunction 'neither... nor...', the possessive pronoun must agree in number with the antecedent closest to the blank. In this sentence, the plural noun phrase 'the forensic accountants' immediately precedes the blank, requiring the plural possessive pronoun 'their'.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Analyze the compound subject structure and the correlative conjunction used.
The sentence features a compound antecedent consisting of 'the lead investigator' (singular) and 'the forensic accountants' (plural), linked by 'Neither... nor...'.
When subjects are joined by correlative conjunctions like 'neither... nor...', standard English grammar applies the rule of proximity for pronoun reference.
2
Identify the antecedent closest to the pronoun blank.
The noun phrase nearest to the blank is 'the forensic accountants', which is third-person plural.
The pronoun must agree in number and person with the closer noun phrase rather than the more remote singular subject.
3
Select the syntactically correct possessive pronoun.
The plural possessive pronoun 'their' correctly completes the blank.
Using a singular possessive pronoun would violate proximity concord with 'forensic accountants'.

Anahtar Kavram

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Correlative Conjunctions (Rule of Proximity)
Bu soruyu puanla

Konular

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Bu konudan daha fazla soru