A pronoun question with a describing word tests what the pronoun stands for and how the describing word is used. Sort the pronouns by number, and expand contractions into full words. Possessive pronouns show ownership without an apostrophe; contractions use one for missing letters. Then find the noun across details or sentence breaks: one thing takes a singular pronoun, several take a plural pronoun. An adjective describes a noun, while an adverb describes how something is done.
Hints
- Hint 1
The passage starts with owls in general, then gives an example. Ask which noun the blank's pronoun stands for.
- Hint 2
Check each pronoun for number, ownership, and missing letters. Then check what the final describing word describes: a thing, or how the owl flies?
Step-by-step
Find the owner and describe the flying
Step 1Check number and ownership
At _____ is equally astonishing, let's sort the pronouns into one owner, several owners, or a contraction. Does it's show ownership? It means it is or it has, neither of which fits before ability here. We need a possessive pronoun, a word that shows whose ability it is.
- Step 2
Find whose ability it is
Whose ability is being described? The barn owl, for example, shifts from owls in general to one kind of owl, and the rest of the sentence describes that owl's abilities. The earlier phrase Many species of owls is plural, but it isn't what the blank points back to. One barn owl takes a singular possessive pronoun, so their doesn't fit.
- Step 3
Describe how the owl flies
In Standard English, we use an adverb to describe how something is done, so fly needs silently here. Silent is an adjective, a word that describes a noun. The singular possessive its and the adverb silently give us its ability to fly silently. Choice D.