A pronoun question tests whether a word matches the noun it stands for. With a blank before a noun, ask whether you need to show belonging or add a verb. Possessive pronouns show belonging, while contractions shorten a pronoun and a verb. Find the noun the pronoun stands for, then check number and gender: does it name one or more than one, and does the text give a gender? A nearby noun isn't always the right noun.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read “the fox sheds ______ heavier fur” and ask what the missing word needs to do.
- Hint 2
Whose heavier fur is being shed? Check how many animals that noun names.
Step-by-step
Find the owner of the fur
Step 1Check what the blank must do
The words the fox sheds ______ heavier fur put the blank before the fur being shed. Does the missing word show belonging, or does it add a verb? We need a possessive form, a word that shows belonging. It's means it is or it has, and neither “sheds it is heavier fur” nor “sheds it has heavier fur” works.
- Step 2
Find the noun and check number
Whose heavier fur is being shed? In the Arctic fox grows a thicker coat, the fox grows the coat that it later sheds in summer. Like many mammals compares the fox with other animals, but the sentence still names one fox. Their doesn't match the one fox whose fur is being shed.
- Step 3
Use the form for this animal
The passage already uses insulating it to refer to the fox. Do we know the animal is male? No, so his would add a detail that isn't given. One animal whose sex isn't stated takes the possessive form its, meaning belonging to it: “the fox sheds its heavier fur.” Choice C.