A pronoun question with a verb after the blank tests whether you can match a pronoun to the noun it stands for. Sort the choices by one or more than one, and check the verb for a clue to number. Then read back for the noun, past phrases describing it. A pronoun and its verb must match that noun in number: singular for one, plural for more than one. The nearest noun isn't always the noun the pronoun stands for.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read from the blank through the verb, and ask what has become a reference. Look earlier in the sentence for the noun that answers that question.
- Hint 2
Find the main noun in the opening phrase by setting aside the words beginning with of. Does that main noun name one thing or more than one?
Step-by-step
Find the noun behind the pronoun
Step 1Check the pronoun's job and number
Sort the pronoun choices into singular forms for one person or thing and plural forms for more than one. What job does the blank do before has become an indispensable reference? It names what has become a reference, so it's the subject, the word the verb is about. The singular verb has calls for a singular subject, but we still need to find which noun the pronoun stands for.
- Step 2
Find the main noun
What has become the reference? Read back to The set of guidelines known as the Oslo Manual, where set is the main noun and guidelines tells us what the set contains. The phrase beginning with of describes the set, while the manual's name tells us which set the sentence means. Setting those describing words aside leaves the main point: the set provides standards and has become a reference for economists. A set counts as one thing, even when it holds many guidelines.
- Step 3
Match the pronoun to the set
Which pronoun can stand for The set and work with the verb that follows? They and those refer to more than one, while she refers to a person rather than a manual. The form for one thing is it, which gives us it has become and matches both the singular noun and the verb. Choice D.