Question 244·Easy·Form, Structure, and Sense
After months of planning, the neighborhood association hosted its first outdoor film night, and ______ quickly became a beloved summer tradition.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For pronoun questions like this, first identify the antecedent—the noun the pronoun refers to—by asking what the sentence is really talking about. Then check two things: number (singular vs. plural) and case (subject vs. object). Make sure the pronoun matches the antecedent in number and fits its grammatical role in the sentence, and finally read the sentence with your choice to confirm it sounds natural and logical.
Hints
Identify what the blank stands for
Ask yourself: What in the sentence is being described as something that "quickly became a beloved summer tradition"?
Check singular vs. plural
Once you know what the blank refers to, decide whether that thing is singular (one) or plural (more than one). This will narrow down which pronouns can work.
Subject or object pronoun?
Look at the position of the blank: it comes right before the verb "became." Is the pronoun acting as the subject or an object here? That will help you decide which case (subject vs. object) is needed.
Test each option in the sentence
Read the full sentence with each choice in place. Which option agrees in number with the noun it refers to and fits naturally as the subject of the clause?
Step-by-step Explanation
Find what the blank refers to
Look at the sentence just before the blank: "the neighborhood association hosted its first outdoor film night, and ____ quickly became a beloved summer tradition." The word in the blank must refer back to something already mentioned. Logically, what became a summer tradition is the outdoor film night itself (the event/activity).
Decide if the antecedent is singular or plural
The phrase "its first outdoor film night" is talking about one kind of event (an outdoor film night). Even though there might later be many nights, here the sentence is presenting the film night as a single activity that turned into a tradition. So the pronoun must be singular.
Determine the pronoun’s grammatical role
In the second part of the sentence, the blank comes before the verb "became." That means the pronoun in the blank is the subject of the verb "became." So we need a singular subject pronoun that can stand for the outdoor film night.
Match a singular subject pronoun to the antecedent
Among the choices, only "it" is a singular subject pronoun that can correctly refer to the single event "outdoor film night." Therefore, the correct answer is "it."