The present-day city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, was for years the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, one of...

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 present-day city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan,
• was for years the capital
  • of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic,
    • one of many nominally autonomous republics
      • within the Soviet Union.

• Like (?) peer autonomous Soviet socialist republics,
  • the Tajik Republic
    • was established along ethnolinguistic lines:
      • most of the republic's residents spoke Persian.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

The passage tells us about Dushanbe, a city in Tajikistan:

• It was the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
• This republic was "one of many nominally autonomous republics within the Soviet Union"
  • So there were many such republics, and the Tajik Republic was one of them

Now we reach the second sentence, which starts with a comparison:
"Like ______ peer autonomous Soviet socialist republics..."

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

• A. "their" (possessive - plural)
• B. "they're" (contraction of "they are")
• C. "its" (possessive - singular)
• D. "it's" (contraction of "it is")

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues:

• "the Tajik Republic was established along ethnolinguistic lines"
  • This means the republic was organized based on language and ethnicity
• "most of the republic's residents spoke Persian"
  • This explains what "ethnolinguistic lines" means in this case

Now let's understand what this complete sentence is telling us:

• The sentence is making a comparison
  • "Like _____ peer republics" = comparing the Tajik Republic to other similar republics
  • The sentence is saying the Tajik Republic was established in a certain way, just like other republics were

• "Peer autonomous Soviet socialist republics"
  • These would be other republics that were similar to the Tajik Republic
  • They were peers (equals/counterparts) of the Tajik Republic

What do we notice about the structure here?

• The blank needs a word that shows whose peer republics we're talking about
  • We need a possessive form (showing ownership/belonging)
  • This rules out B and D - those are contractions (they're = they are, it's = it is)

• What does this possessive word refer back to?
  • It refers to "the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic"
  • This is a single republic - it's singular

• So we need a singular possessive pronoun: its

The sentence means: "Like other republics that were peers of the Tajik Republic, the Tajik Republic was also established along ethnolinguistic lines."

The correct answer is Choice C: its

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Pronoun Agreement: Making Pronouns Match Their Antecedents

When you use a pronoun to refer back to something mentioned earlier (called the antecedent in grammar terms), that pronoun must match the antecedent in number - singular or plural:

Pattern:

• Singular antecedent → singular pronoun
  • "The company released its annual report"
    (company = singular, so "its")

• Plural antecedent → plural pronoun
  • "The companies released their annual reports"
    (companies = plural, so "their")

Important distinction - Possessive vs. Contraction:

• Possessive forms (showing ownership): its, their
  • "The dog wagged its tail"
• Contractions (shortened verb forms): it's, they're
  • "It's raining" (it is raining)
  • "They're happy" (they are happy)

In this question:

• The antecedent is "the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic" (singular)
• We need a possessive form (to show these were peer republics of the Tajik Republic)
• Therefore: "its" (singular possessive) is correct