When a given industry-water and electricity are two well-known examples-carries high infrastructural start-up costs and other barriers that discourage...

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

• When a given industry—
• water and electricity are two well-known examples—
• carries high infrastructural start-up costs and other barriers
• that discourage competition,
• ______ [?] of just one or two suppliers per municipality.
• 
  
• Such industries are known as natural monopolies.

Understanding the Meaning

The sentence starts with a condition:

• 'When a given industry'
  • We're talking about one industry at a time
  • Note: "a given industry" is SINGULAR - one industry
• 
  
• Then we get examples in dashes:
  • '—water and electricity are two well-known examples—'
  • These are just examples of industries that fit this pattern
  • They're extra information, not the main subject
• 
  
• The sentence continues:
  • 'carries high infrastructural start-up costs and other barriers that discourage competition'
  • This describes industries that are very expensive to start up
  • The high costs create barriers that prevent competition

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

• '______ of just one or two suppliers per municipality.'

Let's look at our choices:

• We need to decide what pronoun or word to use
• The choices are: these, they, it, or this
• We also need to match it with the right verb form: consist or consists

What does this blank need to refer back to?

• It needs to refer to "a given industry" - that's what this whole sentence is about
• "A given industry" is SINGULAR (we're talking about one industry)

So we need:

• A singular pronoun to match "a given industry"
• That's "it" (singular)
• And the verb must be singular too: "consists"
• The correct answer is C: it often consists

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

• The complete sentence tells us:
  • When an industry has high start-up costs and barriers to competition,
  • that industry (it) often consists of just one or two suppliers per municipality
• 
  
• The next sentence confirms this idea:
  • "Such industries are known as natural monopolies."
  • These are industries where it's natural to have only one or a few suppliers because competition doesn't make sense

Grammar Concept Applied

Matching Pronouns to Their Antecedents

When you use a pronoun, it must agree in number with its antecedent (called the antecedent in grammar terms) - the noun it refers back to:

Pattern 1: Singular antecedent → Singular pronoun

• Original: "When a student studies hard..."
• Pronoun reference: "...he or she often succeeds." OR "...they often succeed." (singular they)
• In our question: "a given industry" (singular) → "it" (singular)

Pattern 2: Plural antecedent → Plural pronoun

• Original: "When students study hard..."
• Pronoun reference: "...they often succeed."
• If our question said "given industries" → we'd use "they"

The challenge in this question:

• The antecedent "a given industry" is separated from the pronoun by a long dependent clause
• The dashes contain plural words "water and electricity," which might distract you
• But those are just examples - they're not the subject
• Always trace back to find the true antecedent: "a given industry" (singular)
• Therefore: "it" (singular) with "consists" (singular verb)

Key strategy: When you see a pronoun blank, look backward to find what noun it's referring to, then make sure they match in number (singular or plural).