Question

1. on the hike through the forest, not only all the girl scouts but also mrs. pennington, the troop leader, looked up in surprise as a giant spaceship descended from the sky and hovered above ____.

a. her head
b. their head

1. sonya must remember to buy shampoo so that her roommates can wash ____ hair tomorrow morning with something other than dish soap.

a. his or her
b. their

1. neither floyd the dog nor madison’s three cats enjoy sleeping on the hard, cold floor when ____ can jump onto the soft, warm bed as soon as she leaves for work.

a. he
b. they

1. these two young men will not pass the final exam in fundamentals of biology because ____ spent the semester flirting with the pretty josephine instead of listening to professor shuman.

a. he has
b. they have

1. not only the crickets but also a frog chirped outside davids window for so long last night that ____ kept the poor boy from getting any rest before his important pronoun agreement quiz.

a. it
b. they

Explanation:

Question 16

The subject here is "not only all the Girl Scouts but also Mrs. Pennington" (a compound subject, but the closer noun to the pronoun - related part is "Mrs. Pennington" which is singular? Wait, no - "all the Girl Scouts" is plural and "Mrs. Pennington" is singular. But the phrase "hovered above" - the antecedent for the pronoun - looking at the options, "her head" (A) or "their head" (B). Wait, "not only...but also" follows the rule of proximity? Wait, "all the Girl Scouts" (plural) and "Mrs. Pennington" (singular). But the spaceship is hovering above - if we consider the group? Wait, no. Wait, the subject of "looked up" is "not only all the Girl Scouts but also Mrs. Pennington" - so the pronoun for the object of "above" - let's see: "her head" would refer to Mrs. Pennington, "their head" is incorrect (plural subject with singular "head"). Wait, but "all the Girl Scouts" are plural, but "head" is singular. Wait, maybe the error is in "their head" (B) - "their" is plural, "head" is singular, which is incorrect. So the correct answer should be A? Wait, no - wait, "not only...but also" - the verb "looked" is plural? Wait, "not only A but also B" - the verb agrees with the closer subject. So "Mrs. Pennington" is singular, so the verb "looked" - but "all the Girl Scouts" is plural. Wait, maybe the rule is that "not only...but also" takes the verb according to the closer noun. So "Mrs. Pennington" is singular, so verb should be singular? But the original sentence has "looked" (plural? No, "looked" is past tense, same for singular and plural). Wait, the pronoun: the spaceship is hovering above - whose head? If it's "all the Girl Scouts and Mrs. Pennington", maybe "their" (plural) but "head" is singular. Wait, that's a problem. Wait, maybe the answer is A: "her head" (referring to Mrs. Pennington) or B: "their head" (incorrect, plural pronoun with singular noun). So "their head" is grammatically incorrect (plural possessive with singular noun), so A is correct.

The subject is "her roommates" (plural). So the possessive pronoun should be plural. Option A is "his or her" (singular), Option B is "their" (plural), which matches the plural subject "roommates".

The subject is "Neither Floyd the dog nor Madison’s three cats" - "neither...nor" follows the rule of proximity. The closer noun is "three cats" (plural), so the pronoun should be plural. Option A is "he" (singular), Option B is "they" (plural), so B is correct.

Answer:

A. her head

Question 17