Question

1. bendley, our neighbors basset hound, has toenails that are so long that ____ curled like macaroni noodles at the ends of his paws.
2. noel carefully sliced each brussels sprout in half, carefully scrutinizing the heart of the little cabbage. he always worries that ____ might be a worm buried in the middle.
3. casey and tamara had plenty of privacy for kissing because ____ were six sheets drying on the clothesline in the backyard.
4. warren hates cleaning the bathroom because his brothers always leave globs of toothpaste in the sink, and ____ dirty underwear hangs from the doorknobs or lies in damp piles on the tile floor.
5. raymonds parakeets love to sit on his head; ____ droppings litter his shoulders like flakes of dandruff.
6. after a few ineffective swipes across the kitchen floor, kristy returned the mop to the closet. ____ it would remain for another six months.
7. in a frenzy of packing, the gonzalez family even boxed their poodle, chiquita. ____ moving into a new home tomorrow, and everything must be ready to go.
8. willard loves going food shopping late at night. the aisles are free of people, so ____ is no one to see him sneaking grapes in the produce section or filching cookies from the bakery.
9. russell and his friend ted dived into ____ car and sped out of the parking lot. dripping milkshake, billy soon followed, shaking his fist and swearing revenge at the fleeing car.
10. lolita heaped her brothers plate with barbecue chicken, potato salad, and baked beans. ____ was so much food that henry needed two hands to carry the plate to the table.

Explanation:

Question 8

We need a pronoun to refer to "toenails" (plural, inanimate, but we can use "they" as a generic plural pronoun for things in this context to show the toenails' action of curling. Wait, actually, the structure is "toenails that are so long that ____ curled...", so the subject of "curled" is the toenails, so we use "they" (since toenails are plural, "they" is appropriate to refer back to them).

The sentence is about Noel worrying that there might be a worm. Wait, no, the blank is in "that __ might be a worm". Wait, the subject here—Noel is worried about what's in the Brussels sprout. Wait, maybe a typo? Wait, the original: "He always worries that might be a worm buried in the middle." Wait, maybe "there" is wrong. Wait, no—wait, maybe "something"? No, the context is about what's in the Brussels sprout. Wait, no, the correct pronoun here—wait, maybe I misread. Wait, the sentence structure: "He always worries that might be a worm..." Wait, maybe the intended is "there" (as in "there might be a worm"), but no, "there" is an expletive. Wait, no, the blank is for a pronoun. Wait, maybe the original has a typo, but assuming it's a pronoun to refer to something in the sprout—no, maybe "it"? Wait, no, "it" would be singular, but the sprout is singular. Wait, no, the correct answer here is "there"? No, "there" is not a pronoun in the way. Wait, maybe I made a mistake. Wait, the sentence: "He always worries that might be a worm buried in the middle." So the structure is "that + subject + might be...", so the subject should be what's in the sprout. But since we don't know, maybe the intended is "there" (as in "there might be a worm"), but "there" is an expletive. Wait, no, the correct pronoun here—maybe the answer is "there"? No, "there" is not a pronoun. Wait, maybe the original question has a different context. Wait, maybe I misread. Let's re - read: "Noel carefully sliced each Brussels sprout in half, carefully scrutinizing the heart of the little cabbage. He always worries that __ might be a worm buried in the middle." So the blank is for a word that refers to what's in the sprout. The correct structure here is "that there might be a worm" (using "there" as an expletive to introduce the existence of a worm). So the answer is "there".

The sentence is "Casey and Tamara had plenty of privacy for kissing because __ were six sheets drying on the clothesline...". The structure is "because were six sheets...", which is an inverted sentence (the normal order is "because six sheets were drying...", but inverted, so the subject is "six sheets", but the blank is a pronoun. Wait, no—wait, the correct structure is "because there were six sheets..."? No, "there" is an expletive. Wait, no, the blank is a pronoun. Wait, maybe "there" is wrong. Wait, the sentence: "because __ were six sheets drying...". So the subject of "were" is "six sheets", but the blank is a pronoun. Wait, maybe the intended is "there" (as in "there were six sheets"), but "there" is not a pronoun. Wait, no, the correct answer here is "there" (expletive construction: "there were six sheets...").

Answer:

they

Question 9