Question 166·Easy·Form, Structure, and Sense
After the science fair, the student council announced that each of the participants should collect ___ certificates from the main office before Friday.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For pronoun agreement questions, first underline the noun phrase the pronoun refers to (the antecedent) and decide if it is grammatically singular or plural—watch for words like "each," "every," "anyone," and "everyone," which are singular even if followed by a plural noun. Then eliminate any pronoun choices that don’t match in number or don’t fit the type of noun (person vs. thing). If gender is not specified and you need a singular pronoun, choose the option that is both singular and inclusive according to formal written English used on the SAT.
Hints
Focus on the phrase with "each"
Look closely at the phrase "each of the participants." Is it treated as singular or plural in formal grammar?
Match number and type
The pronoun in the blank must match the noun phrase it refers to in number (singular or plural) and also be a pronoun normally used for people, not objects.
Think about gender information
Does the sentence tell you whether the participants are all male, all female, or a mix? How does that affect whether you can choose only a masculine or only a feminine pronoun?
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the pronoun refers to
Find the noun phrase that the blank pronoun will replace. Here, the sentence says "each of the participants should collect ___ certificates," so the pronoun must refer back to "each of the participants."
Decide if that noun phrase is singular or plural
Even though "participants" is plural, the key word is "each." In Standard English grammar, words like "each," "every," and "anyone" are treated as singular, so the pronoun that replaces them also needs to be singular.
Check which pronouns can refer to people
The pronoun must refer to human beings (the participants). Pronouns like "his" and "her" can refer to people, but a pronoun like "its" is usually used for things, animals, or organizations, not for individual people.
Consider gender information and choose the pronoun
The sentence does not tell us whether the participants are all male, all female, or a mix, so we cannot correctly use only "his" or only "her" to refer to all of them. To stay both singular and inclusive in Standard English, we use the phrase "his or her", which matches the singular "each" and covers any gender.