A pronoun question tests whether you can match a pronoun's form to the job it does and the noun it stands for. Read around the blank and ask what job the missing word does. Then find the noun it stands for, reading past nearer nouns. Possessive pronouns show ownership; singular pronouns refer to one thing, and plural pronouns refer to more than one. Forms that look or sound alike can mean different things, so check what each means.
Hints
- Hint 1
In the phrase about postponing the vote, ask whose vote is being postponed. Check the meaning of each form in that phrase.
- Hint 2
Check the noun that names the owner of the vote. Does that noun name one thing or more than one?
Step-by-step
Find the owner, then match number
Step 1Check which forms show ownership
Read postpone ______ vote: the blank needs a possessive pronoun, a word that shows who something belongs to. What happens when we write out the full words? It's means it is or it has, and neither fits after postpone and before vote. The word there points to a place or starts a phrase such as there is, so it can't show whose vote this is.
- Step 2
Find the owner
Who owns the vote? The words the group decided to postpone tell us who's making the decision, so the vote belongs to the group. The guidelines are what the committee is debating, not who gets to vote. The committee and the group name the same people here, so let's check whether the noun naming them is singular or plural.
- Step 3
Match one group to one pronoun
Does a group become plural because several people belong to it? No: the group names one group, so the noun is singular, meaning one thing. A noun that names one group takes a singular pronoun even when the group has many members, so their, the possessive form for more than one owner, doesn't agree with it. We need the singular possessive form, its, which gives postpone its vote. Choice D.