A pronoun question after a comma tests both what the pronoun means and how the words fit together. Read across the blank and check how each form connects the words. Pronouns can show ownership, link a description to a noun, or stand for a noun; an apostrophe can mark missing letters. Then test whether the following words can stand alone, because a comma alone can't join two full sentences. A description attached to a noun can follow a comma.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read back from the blank to find what the annual journey belongs to.
- Hint 2
Split at the comma after the Arctic tern. Test whether the words after the comma can stand alone as a full sentence or stay attached to the noun before the comma.
Step-by-step
Check the meaning and the join
Step 1Find the owner and the full sentence
Split at the comma: ornithologists often highlight the endurance of the Arctic tern has the subject ornithologists and main verb highlight, so it can stand alone. What does the part after the blank add? The annual journey belongs to the tern, and the rest tells us how far that bird travels. So the word in the blank needs to show ownership and connect the journey's details to the sentence.
- Step 2
Test the comma with a possessive pronoun
Would its work with this comma? It shows that the journey belongs to the tern, but its annual journey would be a subject paired with spans roughly 44,000 miles, which is the main verb. Those words can stand alone, so the comma would create a comma splice, which means two full sentences joined incorrectly with only a comma. We need the journey's details to stay attached to the tern rather than start a separate sentence.
- Step 3
Attach the description
What word shows ownership without starting a separate sentence? Who's means who is or who has, and of which its shows ownership with of which and then repeats it with its, so those forms don't fit before annual journey. Whose is a relative pronoun, a word that links a description to a noun, and it also shows ownership. It can refer to an animal, so it links the added details to the Arctic tern without starting a separate sentence. Choice D.