A pronoun question tests whether a pronoun matches its noun and does the right job in the sentence. Sort the choices by number, then find the noun the pronoun stands for, reading past nearby nouns. A pronoun must match whether that noun names one thing or more than one. Next, check the pronoun's job: a subject names who or what the verb describes, while an object receives an action or follows a word like of.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the words after the blank and ask what was too fragmentary to be classified. Find the noun that answers that question in the first part of the sentence.
- Hint 2
Check the pronoun's job before the verb. Does the blank name what the verb describes, or does it receive an action?
Step-by-step
Sort, find the noun, and check the form
Step 1Sort the pronouns by number
Sort the pronoun choices by number: it and that refer to one thing, while the plural forms refer to more than one. The blank comes before were too fragmentary, so we're looking for a word that names what was too fragmentary. A pronoun must match its noun in number, which means our next move is to find that noun.
- Step 2
Find what was too fragmentary
What was too fragmentary to be classified: the people doing the research, the place, or the things uncovered? It's the numerous fossilized plant specimens, because those are the things the team would sort into scientific groups. The words the research team tell us who found the specimens, and the site tells us where, so neither noun gives the meaning we need. The pronoun stands for the specimens, which are more than one, rather than a noun that names the finders or the place.
- Step 3
Choose the subject form
Which plural form can do the job before were too fragmentary? This position needs a subject form, which names who or what the verb describes. Them is an object form, used when something receives an action or comes after a word like of, so it can't be the subject here. The plural subject pronoun is they, giving us they were too fragmentary. Choice B.