Félix González-Torres debuted his sculpture 'Untitled' (USA Today) in New York City in 1990. The work consists of piled candy,...

SOLUTION

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:
  • Félix González-Torres
    • debuted his sculpture 'Untitled' (USA Today)
      • in New York City
        • in 1990.
• Sentence 2:
  • The work
    • consists of piled candy,
      • a material González-Torres became known for.
• Sentence 3:
  • [?]
    • created additional installations
      • using a variety of sweets,
        • like bubblegum, lollipops, and chocolates.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence introduces us to an artist:

• Félix González-Torres debuted his sculpture 'Untitled' (USA Today) in New York City in 1990.
  • We learn about a specific person (González-Torres) and a specific artwork he created.

The second sentence tells us about that sculpture:

• The work consists of piled candy,
  • The sculpture was made of candy
• a material González-Torres became known for.
  • Candy became one of his signature materials

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank:

• "______ created additional installations using a variety of sweets..."

Let's look at our choices:

• A. They all
• B. Those
• C. Both
• D. He

What do we notice? The choices are asking us to pick the right word to refer back to someone or something already mentioned.

Looking at what we've read so far:

• The passage is about one person: Félix González-Torres (a singular person)
• The first sculpture is just one example of his work
• Now we're learning that this same person created more installations with different sweets

So we need "He" - it's the only choice that refers back to the singular person, Félix González-Torres.

The rest of the sentence completes the picture:

• These additional installations used "a variety of sweets, like bubblegum, lollipops, and chocolates"
  • This shows the range of candy materials he explored in his art

The correct answer is D. He

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Pronouns to Their Antecedents

When you use a pronoun (a word that stands in for a noun), it must match what it's referring back to - called the antecedent (the technical grammar term for what a pronoun refers to). The match needs to work in two ways:

1. Number agreement: Singular antecedent = singular pronoun; Plural antecedent = plural pronoun
   • One person: Félix González-Torres (singular) → He (singular) ✓
   • Multiple people: The artists (plural) → They (plural) ✓
   • One person: Félix González-Torres (singular) → They (plural) ✗
2. Clear logical reference: The reader should easily identify what the pronoun refers to
   • If only one person is discussed throughout the passage
   • And you need a subject for the next sentence about creating more art
   • The pronoun should clearly point back to that one person

In this question:

• Antecedent: Félix González-Torres (singular person)
• Correct pronoun: He (singular, refers to a person)
• Why it works: "He" matches González-Torres in number and clearly refers back to him as the artist who continued creating installations