Eighteen letters written by Louisa May Alcott, author of the popular novel Little Women (1868), can be found at the...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

Sentence 1:

• Eighteen letters
  • written by Louisa May Alcott,
    • author of the popular novel Little Women (1868),
  can be found at the New York Historical Society.

Sentence 2:

• [?] letters
  • demonstrate Alcott's keen business sense
    • in her interactions with publishers.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's read the first sentence to understand what we're talking about:

• 'Eighteen letters written by Louisa May Alcott, author of the popular novel Little Women (1868), can be found at the New York Historical Society.'
  • So we have a specific collection: eighteen letters by Louisa May Alcott
  • These letters are housed at the New York Historical Society

Now we move to the second sentence, which starts with our blank:

• '[?] letters demonstrate Alcott's keen business sense in her interactions with publishers.'

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:

• Our options are: One, That, This, These
• All of these would come before the word "letters"

Now let's understand what the second sentence is telling us:

• It's talking about letters that 'demonstrate Alcott's keen business sense'
• These must be the same eighteen letters mentioned in the first sentence
• The sentence is referring back to that collection

What do we notice about the word we need?

• The first sentence tells us about "Eighteen letters" – that's plural
  • More than one letter, specifically eighteen of them

• The second sentence needs a word that:
  • Refers back to those eighteen letters
  • Works with the plural word "letters"

• Looking at our choices:
  • "One" is singular – wouldn't match plural "letters"
  • "That" is singular – can only work with singular nouns
  • "This" is singular – same problem
  • "These" is plural – matches with plural "letters"

So we need: These

The complete second sentence reads: "These letters demonstrate Alcott's keen business sense in her interactions with publishers."

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Demonstrative Words with Plural or Singular Nouns

When you use demonstrative words (this, that, these, those – called demonstrative pronouns or determiners in grammar terms) to point to or refer back to something, they must match in number with the noun they're working with:

Singular demonstratives (use with one thing):

• This book is interesting
• That letter was written in 1868

Plural demonstratives (use with more than one thing):

• These books are interesting
• Those letters were written in 1868

How this applies to our question:

• First sentence mentions: "Eighteen letters" (plural)
• Second sentence refers back to them: needs a plural demonstrative
• "These letters" correctly matches plural noun with plural demonstrative
• The sentence structure is: "These letters demonstrate..." where "these" points back to the eighteen letters from the first sentence

Quick test: Could you use the singular form "letter" instead?

• "That letter" (grammatically correct)
• "That letters" (number mismatch)
• "These letter" (number mismatch)
• "These letters" (both plural – correct!)