A sentence completion question with pronouns and verbs tests how words fit their roles in a sentence. Find the part containing the blank, then check the pronoun’s role. Subject forms name who does something, object forms follow verbs or prepositions, and possessive forms show ownership. Then check whether the clause is complete: it needs a subject and a main verb saying what the subject does or is. Test each choice for its pronoun form and its verb.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the part beginning with until. Does it share the earlier verb spends, or does it need a verb of its own?
- Hint 2
Test ready and to take as possible main verbs. Can either one say what the subject does or is without adding any words?
Step-by-step
Find the blank’s own clause
Step 1Find the main verb already present
In Flores often spends hours waiting quietly for a puma to appear, what word tells us what Flores does? Spends is the main verb, the verb that says what the subject does or is. This part already has its main verb, but that doesn't settle the blank. We still need to check whether the blank belongs to a part with its own subject and verb.
- Step 2
Check the clause beginning with until
The words until ______ ready to take the shot begin a clause, a group of words with its own subject and verb. Does that clause have a main verb yet? Ready describes someone, and to take can't be a main verb on its own. Spends belongs to the earlier part, while her camera resting on a lightweight tripod describes the camera without a main verb because resting has no helping verb. The blank must supply the subject and main verb of the until clause.
- Step 3
Supply who is ready and the missing verb
Who is ready to take the shot? Flores is the photographer who waits for the puma, so we need a subject pronoun that stands for her. Her and him are forms used after a verb, not as the subject here, and neither adds a verb. She supplies a subject without a main verb, but she is supplies both, with is saying that Flores is ready. Choice D.