Question 73·Easy·Form, Structure, and Sense
Before the museum opens each day, staff members review the day's schedule so ______ can answer visitors' questions accurately.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For pronoun agreement questions, first underline the noun the pronoun refers to (the antecedent). Decide if that noun is singular or plural and whether it refers to a person, thing, or idea. Then eliminate any pronoun choices that do not match in number or type, and quickly plug the remaining option(s) into the sentence to confirm that the result is grammatical and sounds natural in a formal context.
Hints
Find the noun the blank refers to
Look back in the sentence and decide which noun is supposed to be doing the action "can answer visitors' questions." That noun is what the pronoun in the blank is replacing.
Check singular vs. plural
Ask yourself: Is that noun singular or plural? Eliminate any pronoun that does not match in number.
Think about people vs. things
Is the noun you found a person/people or a thing? Make sure the pronoun you choose is one we normally use for that type of noun in formal English.
Read the sentence with each option
Substitute each answer choice into the blank and read the full sentence out loud in your head. Eliminate any option that sounds ungrammatical, mismatched, or unnatural for formal writing.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the blank refers to
Read the sentence: "Before the museum opens each day, staff members review the day's schedule so ______ can answer visitors' questions accurately."
Ask: Who is doing the answering? The people who review the schedule: staff members. So the missing word must be a pronoun that stands for staff members.
Determine the pronoun’s number and type
"Staff members" is:
- Plural (more than one staff member)
- Refers to people (not a thing or an idea)
So the pronoun that replaces it must also be third-person plural and normally used for people.
Test each answer choice for agreement and meaning
Plug each option into the sentence and check:
- Does it match plural vs. singular with "staff members"?
- Is it the pronoun we use for people (not things)?
- Does it sound natural and standard in formal written English?
Choose the pronoun that correctly matches "staff members"
Only "they" is a third-person plural pronoun commonly used for people and correctly matches the plural noun "staff members". The completed sentence is:
"Before the museum opens each day, staff members review the day's schedule so they can answer visitors' questions accurately."