The Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution, remain essential reading for...

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

• The Federalist Papers,
• a collection of 85 essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution,
  • remain essential reading for understanding American political philosophy.
• Although widely studied in schools today,
• few people know that
  • ______ published anonymously under the pseudonym 'Publius' between 1787 and 1788.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The first sentence tells us:

• 'The Federalist Papers'
  • This is our main subject
• 'a collection of 85 essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution'
  • This gives us more detail about what The Federalist Papers are
• 'remain essential reading for understanding American political philosophy'
  • This tells us they're still important to read today

Now the second sentence starts:

• 'Although widely studied in schools today'
  • This confirms they're well-known now
• 'few people know that'
  • Here comes an interesting fact most people don't know

This is where we have the blank:

• '______ published anonymously under the pseudonym 'Publius' between 1787 and 1788'

Let's look at the choices. They're asking us to pick the right pronoun:

• A: 'it was'
• B: 'one was'
• C: 'both were'
• D: 'they were'

To see what works here, let's understand what the blank is referring to.

What was published anonymously? The Federalist Papers.

So we need a pronoun that refers back to 'The Federalist Papers.'

What do we notice about 'The Federalist Papers'?

• Look at the first sentence again – it says these papers 'remain essential reading'
  • Not 'remains' (which would be singular)
  • But 'remain' (which is plural)
• The key noun is 'Papers' – that's a plural word
• Even though it's described as 'a collection' (which sounds like one thing), the actual name is plural: Papers

So we need a plural pronoun that matches 'The Federalist Papers.'

Looking at our options:

• 'it was' and 'one was' are both singular – these don't match
• 'both were' is plural but only works for exactly two things – we have 85 essays
• 'they were' is the general plural pronoun

The correct answer is D: they were because it's the plural pronoun that matches the plural 'Federalist Papers.'

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Pronoun Agreement with Antecedents

A pronoun must agree in number (singular or plural) with the noun it refers to (called its antecedent in grammar terms). The key is to identify what the pronoun is referring back to and match its number.

Example 1: Singular antecedent → singular pronoun

• The book was published in 1850. It remains influential today.
  • 'book' = singular
  • 'it' = singular pronoun

Example 2: Plural antecedent → plural pronoun

• The novels were published in 1850. They remain influential today.
  • 'novels' = plural
  • 'they' = plural pronoun

How this applies to our question:

• The antecedent: 'The Federalist Papers' (plural noun)
• Evidence it's plural: takes the verb 'remain' not 'remains'
• Correct pronoun: 'they' (plural)

Special note: Sometimes a title or name that represents multiple items can seem singular (like 'a collection'), but you need to look at the actual grammatical treatment. In this case, 'Papers' is the key noun, it takes plural verbs, and therefore needs plural pronouns.