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Zorluk: OrtaPronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

What possessive pronoun correctly maintains pronoun-antecedent agreement in the sentence below?

Cevap:Neither of the two research committees had submitted 【its】 preliminary report before the deadline elapsed.

Cevap

its
The singular possessive pronoun 'its' correctly agrees with the singular indefinite pronoun 'Neither', which functions as the head of the subject phrase. In formal written English, 'neither' is grammatically singular and takes a singular pronoun, even when followed by a prepositional phrase containing a plural noun.

Adım Adım Çözüm

1
Identify the grammatical antecedent of the missing pronoun.
The syntactic subject of the sentence is the indefinite pronoun 'Neither'.
The prepositional phrase 'of the two research committees' modifies the subject but does not change its singular grammatical number.
2
Determine the correct possessive pronoun form to match the singular inanimate antecedent.
The singular possessive pronoun 'its' must be used.
In standard formal English, singular indefinite pronouns such as 'neither' require singular pronouns for agreement. Since 'committees' refers to non-human entities, 'its' is the required pronoun.

Anahtar Kavram

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement with Singular Indefinite Pronouns
Bu soruyu puanla

Konular

Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Bu konudan daha fazla soru