In 1930, Japanese American artist Chiura Obata depicted the natural beauty of Yosemite National Park in two memorable woodcuts: Evening...

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

First sentence:

• In 1930,
• Japanese American artist Chiura Obata
  • depicted the natural beauty of Yosemite National Park
    • in two memorable woodcuts:
      • Evening at Carl Inn and Lake Basin in the High Sierra.

Second sentence:

• In 2019,
• [?]
  • exhibited alongside 150 of Obata's other works
    • in a single-artist show
      • at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence tells us about something that happened in 1930:

• Artist Chiura Obata depicted Yosemite's natural beauty
  • in two memorable woodcuts
    • and we even get their specific names:
      • Evening at Carl Inn and Lake Basin in the High Sierra

So we have TWO specific artworks mentioned by name.

Now the second sentence starts: 'In 2019...'

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

• A: "it was" (singular)
• B: "they were" (plural)
• C: "this was" (singular)
• D: "some were" (plural)

So we're deciding which pronoun works here. To see what works, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues:

• '______ exhibited alongside 150 of Obata's other works in a single-artist show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.'

Now let's understand what this is telling us:

• In 2019, something was exhibited at the Smithsonian
  • alongside 150 other works by Obata
  • in a single-artist show

What do we notice?

• The pronoun in the blank needs to refer back to something from the previous sentence.
• What was mentioned in the previous sentence that would be exhibited?
  • The two memorable woodcuts: Evening at Carl Inn and Lake Basin in the High Sierra
• Since we're referring back to TWO specific artworks (not one), we need a plural pronoun.

So we need: they were

This correctly refers to the two woodcuts mentioned in the first sentence, and the plural "they" matches the fact that we're talking about two artworks.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Making Pronouns Agree with What They Refer To

When you use a pronoun to refer back to something mentioned earlier (called the antecedent in grammar terms), the pronoun must match in number - singular pronouns for singular antecedents, plural pronouns for plural antecedents.

The pattern:

1. Identify what the pronoun is referring back to (the antecedent)
2. Count: is it one thing or multiple things?
3. Choose a pronoun that matches:
   • One thing → use singular (it, this)
   • Multiple things → use plural (they, these)

Examples:

• Singular antecedent: The painting was created in 1920. It now hangs in the museum.
  • "painting" = one thing
  • "it" = singular pronoun ✓
• Plural antecedent: The paintings were created in 1920. They now hang in the museum.
  • "paintings" = multiple things
  • "they" = plural pronoun ✓

In this question:

• Antecedent: "two memorable woodcuts: Evening at Carl Inn and Lake Basin in the High Sierra"
• Count: TWO artworks
• Pronoun needed: "they" (plural) ✓