When they were first introduced to western Europe from Byzantium in the eleventh century, table forks were met with much...

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 they were first introduced to western Europe from Byzantium in the eleventh century,
  • table forks
    • were met with much resistance.

• The Bishop of Ostia, St. Peter Damian,
  • condemned the eating utensils
    • because he considered (?) dangerous and unnecessary luxury items.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us historical context:

• "When they were first introduced to western Europe from Byzantium in the eleventh century"
  • This tells us when and where: table forks came from Byzantium to western Europe in the 1000s

• "table forks were met with much resistance"
  • People didn't welcome them - they resisted using them

Now the second sentence gives us a specific example of this resistance:

• "The Bishop of Ostia, St. Peter Damian"
  • A religious leader (the title tells us who specifically)

• "condemned the eating utensils"
  • He spoke out against them
  • Note: "eating utensils" is another way to refer to those table forks from the first sentence

This is where we have the blank:

• "because he considered ______ dangerous and unnecessary luxury items"

Let's look at the choices:

• We're choosing between "them," "this," "that," and "it"
• These are different pronouns - some singular, some plural

To see what works here, let's understand what the Bishop was considering:

• He considered [something] to be "dangerous and unnecessary luxury items"
• What was he considering? The eating utensils (the table forks)
• "The eating utensils" is PLURAL
• "Luxury items" at the end is also PLURAL

What do we notice?

• The pronoun needs to refer back to "the eating utensils"
• Since "the eating utensils" is plural, we need a plural pronoun
• The only plural pronoun in our choices is "them"

So we need "them" - it matches the plural "eating utensils" and works with the plural "luxury items."

The complete meaning is: The Bishop condemned the eating utensils because he thought they were dangerous and unnecessary luxuries.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Matching Pronouns to Their Antecedents

When you use a pronoun, it needs to match in number with the noun it refers back to (called the antecedent in grammar terms). This means:

• Singular antecedent → singular pronoun
  • "The chef prepared the meal. She garnished it beautifully."
  • Antecedent: "the meal" (singular)
  • Pronoun: "it" (singular)

• Plural antecedent → plural pronoun
  • "The students submitted their projects. The teacher reviewed them carefully."
  • Antecedent: "their projects" (plural)
  • Pronoun: "them" (plural)

In this question:

• Antecedent: "the eating utensils" (plural) - referring to "table forks"
• Correct pronoun: "them" (plural)
• The sentence structure: "he considered them dangerous and unnecessary luxury items"

Key tip: Sometimes the antecedent appears in an earlier part of the sentence or even in a previous sentence. Always trace back to find what noun the pronoun is replacing, then check that they match in number.