Native to the deserts of the southwestern United States, the saguaro cactus is an iconic symbol of the American West....

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

• Native to the deserts of the southwestern United States,
• the saguaro cactus
• is an iconic symbol of the American West.
• Capable of living for over 150 years,
• _____ [they/it/that/he]
• can grow to heights exceeding forty feet
• and store thousands of gallons of water.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start by reading the first sentence to understand what we're talking about:

• "Native to the deserts of the southwestern United States, the saguaro cactus is an iconic symbol of the American West."
  • This introduces us to the subject: the saguaro cactus
  • We learn it's from the southwestern US deserts
  • It's described as an iconic symbol

Now the second sentence begins:

• "Capable of living for over 150 years, _____"
  • This phrase is describing something that can live a really long time
  • Now here's where we need to fill in the blank

Let's look at our choices: they, it, that, he

What do we need here?

• The previous sentence was all about "the saguaro cactus" - that's one cactus, singular
• This new sentence is continuing to tell us more about that same cactus
• We need a pronoun that refers back to "the saguaro cactus"
• Since "the saguaro cactus" is singular, we need a singular pronoun
• Since it's a plant (not a person), we need the neutral pronoun "it"

So we need: it

Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture:

• "...can grow to heights exceeding forty feet and store thousands of gallons of water"
  • These are the impressive abilities of the saguaro cactus
  • It can grow really tall (over 40 feet)
  • And it can store huge amounts of water (thousands of gallons)

What do we notice?

• The word "it" needs to refer back to "the saguaro cactus" from the previous sentence
• "The saguaro cactus" is singular, so the pronoun must also be singular
• "It" is the correct singular pronoun for a plant

The correct answer is B: it

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Pronouns to 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 that antecedent in two important ways:

1. Number - Singular or Plural:

• If the antecedent is singular → use a singular pronoun
• If the antecedent is plural → use a plural pronoun

2. Type - Person or Thing:

• For things and plants → use "it" (singular) or "they" (plural)
• For people → use "he/she" (singular) or "they" (plural)

Examples:

• The scientist announced her findings → "her" matches "scientist" (singular person)
• The cacti grow slowly → "they" would refer back to "cacti" (plural things)
• The saguaro cactus can grow tall → "it" matches "cactus" (singular thing)

In this question:

• Antecedent: "the saguaro cactus" (singular plant)
• Correct pronoun: "it" (singular, neutral for things)
• This match ensures clarity and grammatical correctness