Multiple choice

Directions: This question presents a sentence, all or part of which is underlined. Beneath the sentence you will find five ways of phrasing the underlined part. The first of these repeats the original; the other four are different. If you think the original is best, choose the first answer; otherwise choose one of the others.

Designers of athletic footwear finely tune each category of shoes to their particular activity by studying human motion and physiology.

  1. finely tune each category of shoes to their particular activity

  2. fine tune each category of shoes to its particular activity

  3. fine tune each category of shoes to their particular activity

  4. finely tune each category of shoes to its particular activity

  5. finely tune all categories of shoe to their particular activity
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Explanation for (1): Each should be followed by a singular pronoun. So, 'their' is incorrectly used and should be changed to 'its'.

Explanation for (2): This option corrects the error of pronoun usage but changes the meaning of the sentence by replacing the adverb 'finely' with the adjective 'fine'.

Explanation for (3): This option fails to correct the error of pronoun usage and also  changes the meaning of the sentence by replacing the adverb 'finely' with the adjective 'fine'.
Justification for (4): Each should be followed by a singular pronoun. So, 'their' is incorrectly used and should be changed to 'its', which is duly rectified in (4). Explanation for (5): The option is grammatically correct but omits the emphasis exhibited by 'each'.

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