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SAT
Course: SAT > Unit 11
Lesson 3: Writing: Grammar- Writing: Setting Up Ideas — Video Lesson
- Setting up ideas | Quick guide
- Writing: Strong Support — Video lesson
- Strong support | Quick guide
- Writing: Relevant Information — Video lesson
- Relevant information | Quick guide
- Writing: Sequencing sentences — Video lesson
- Sequencing sentences | Quick guide
- Writing: Transition Words — Video lesson
- Transition words and phrases | Quick guide
- Writing: Transition Sentences — Video Lesson
- Transition sentences | Quick guide
- Writing: Introductions — Video lesson
- Writing: Conclusions — Video lesson
- Introductions and conclusions | Quick guide
- Writing: Interpreting Graphs and Data — Video lesson
- Interpreting graphs and data | Quick guide
- Writing: Precision — Video Lesson
- Precise word choice | Quick guide
- Writing: Concision — Video lesson
- Concision | Quick guide
- Writing: Formal and Informal Language — Video Lesson
- Writing: Formal vs. casual language — Example
- Formal vs. casual language | Quick guide
- Writing: Syntax — Example
- Writing: Sentence Fragments — Video Lesson
- Writing: Sentence Boundaries — Example 1
- Writing: Sentence boundaries — Example 2
- Sentence fragments | Quick guide
- Writing: Subordination and coordination — Example
- Writing: Combining Sentences — Video Lesson
- Linking clauses | Quick guide
- Writing: Parallel Structure — Video lesson
- Writing: Parallel structure — Example
- Parallel structure | Quick guide
- Writing: Modifier Placement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Modifier placement — Example
- Modifier placement | Quick guide
- Writing: Verb Tense and Mood — Video Lesson
- Writing: Shift in verb tense and mood — Example
- Verb tense and mood | Quick guide
- Writing: Pronoun Clarity — Video Lesson
- Writing: Pronoun clarity — Example
- Pronoun clarity | Quick guide
- Writing: Pronoun Agreement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Pronoun-antecedent agreement — Example
- Pronoun-antecedent agreement | Quick guide
- Writing: Possessive determiners — Example 1
- Writing: Possessive determiners — Example 2
- Writing: It’s/Its Confusion — Video Lesson
- Confusion with "its" and "their" | Quick guide
- Writing: Subject-Verb Agreement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Subject-verb agreement — Example
- Subject-verb agreement | Quick guide
- Writing: Noun Agreement — Video Lesson
- Writing: Noun agreement — Basic example
- Noun agreement | Quick guide
- Writing: Frequently Confused Words — Video Lesson
- Writing: Frequently confused words — Example
- Frequently confused words | Quick guide
- Writing: Conventional Expressions — Video Lesson
- Writing: Conventional expression — Example
- Conventional expressions | Quick guide
- Writing: Logical Comparison — Video Lesson
- Writing: Logical comparison — Example
- Logical comparison | Quick guide
- Writing: End-of-sentence punctuation — Example 1
- Writing: End-of-sentence punctuation — Example 2
- Writing: Commas — Video Lesson
- Commas | Quick guide
- Writing: Semicolons — Video Lesson
- Semicolons | Quick guide
- Writing: Colons — Video lesson
- Colons | Quick guide
- Writing: Possessive Pronouns — Example
- Writing: Possessive Nouns — Video Lesson
- Making nouns possessive | Quick guide
- Writing: Items in a series — Example
- Writing: Punctuating Lists — Video Lesson
- Lists and punctuation | Quick guide
- Writing: Nonrestrictive and parenthetical elements — Example
- Writing: Nonessential Elements — Video Lesson
- Nonessential elements | Quick guide
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Writing: Pronoun-antecedent agreement — Example
Watch Sal work through a harder pronoun-antecedent agreement question from the SAT Writing and Language Test.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why isn't the answer ''that''? Can somebody explain to me? I know that the subject is plural...(9 votes)
- "That" is not grammatically incorrect, but only necessary when distinguishing the crate of bees from other crates. (This would be an example of the limiting use of the pronoun "that".)
With the sentence as written, we know we're only dealing with one crate, so there is no need to further differentiate or single out the "crate of bees" from other crates by using the limiting pronoun "that". The use of the pronoun "It" is unambiguous in its reference to the single crate of bees.(33 votes)
- It sounds like it is the best answer, but could that work also if there is no it in the options? Or is that wrong because of some other reason?(3 votes)
- No 'it'? I guess there won't be any reasonable choice if so.(6 votes)
- I would argue that the subject "crate" becomes peripheral based on the destination. After all, you are not taking a 'crate' to animal control (you could take a crate anywhere) you are taking the Honey Bees. And thus, as living things they should take precedence. "Them" seems more apt.(2 votes)
- Grammatically speaking, you are taking the crate of honeybees to animal control. It is introduced as a whole, singular thing (a crate of honeybees), and as such it is referred to in the singular tense. You aren't just grabbing a handful of bees and heading off to animal control, you're taking the whole crate of them. In this case, "it" encompasses both the crate and what's inside it, while "them" refers to only the bees.
If it was a pair of raccoons, on the other hand, then that would be "I took them..."
Make sense?(6 votes)
- If the sentence would have started with "A swarm of honey bees", what would have been the pronoun?(1 vote)
- @ mansurmishal,
The pronoun is still "it" because "a bunch" is still singular. Honey bees is at the end of the preposition phrase which describes "a bunch"
- EL PRO(2 votes)
- “It” sounds like the best possible choice, but if the sentence was focused on only the honeybees, what would the answer be? “Them,” right?(1 vote)
- Well, "of honey bee" is what is called a prepositional phrase, this serves to describe the subject. The verb never follows a preposition, only the subject which in this case is the "crate".(2 votes)
- i know its very obvious in this case, but how do we exactly know if it is referring to the crate and not the box? im asking because i remember some rule the subject closest the "it" or "they" or whatever is what "it" is referring to. I hope this question isn't confusing.(1 vote)
- We know that "it " is referring to the box because bees would be them because there is more than one bee.(2 votes)
- Hi, Could you please explain whether the following sentence is correct or not "The fashion designer’s creations, some of which are very radical, have earned him accolades from the city’s style icons".(1 vote)
- So if we are talking about one thing, we need to use a singular word?(1 vote)
- what type of pronoun is "them"(1 vote)
- yes its plural, for ex. look at anna and maria.
the girl can replaced with them bc they are pliral, and it would read look at them
it still makes sense(1 vote)
- Why wouldn't the answer be them. It and them work in the sentence but them fits better. So why is "it" the answer?(0 votes)
- @ larrykirkman13,
Them is grammatically incorrect because the pronoun should be referring to the crate. "of honey bees" is the prepositional phrase which describes "a crate". A crate is singular and therefore the pronoun should be "it". Them sounds better because it is used like this in everyday language and it is a very common error. It is like saying "It's me" instead of "It is I". "It is I" is grammatically correct, but in everyday language, we say "It's me".
- EL PRO(2 votes)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] A crate of
honeybees arrived at my house by accident, so I took them
immediately to animal control. All right, so what is this pronoun them trying to refer to? 'Cause it might be tempting
to say that it's referring to the honeybees, but the
subject of this first part, this first clause of this
sentence right over here, they didn't say honeybees
arrived at my house. They say a crate of honeybees. So the subject here is actually
singular, it's a crate, a crate, this right over here is singular. So when we use the pronoun, we
also want the singular form. And you could try it out by
replacing it with the word that it's referring to. A crate of honeybees arrived
at my house by accident, so I took the crate
immediately to animal control. So instead of the crate,
I wouldn't say them, I would say it. I would replace the plural
pronoun with the singular, with the singular pronoun. So I took it immediately
to animal control. And this is a very, this is
one that'll trip many people up many times because you
see a singular thing that contains many things,
and so you might say, okay, well, I'm talking
about a lot of honeybees, so I'd wanna use plural. Well, that would be the case
if we just said honeybees arrived at my house by
accident, so I took them immediately to animal control. That would actually be okay, but we're not talking
about honeybees arriving. We're talking about a crate, one crate of honeybees arriving. And so the pronoun here is
referring to that one crate so it should be it.