Question

Fill in the blank with the suitable pronoun:
A: “Is your friend’s mother tongue Marathi or Gujarati?”
B: “___________. It is Bengali.”
a. Each
b. Either
c. Neither
d. Both

Answer 1

Hint: Pronouns are the words used in place of a noun or a noun phrase. For example, Sara is a very nice girl but she is very temperamental. Here, ‘she’ is a pronoun which substitutes the noun, ‘Sara’.

Complete answer:
From the hint given to us, we understand the meaning of a pronoun. Let us analyse the given options one by one to find the suitable pronoun.
Each means all but individually. For example, each person was asked to cast their vote. We observe that ‘each’ does not fit the context of the given sentence correctly. Hence, we can say that option ‘a’ is not the correct answer.
Either means one or the other of the two options. For example, I did not like him either. We observe that ‘either’ does not fit the context of the given sentence correctly. Hence, we can say that option ‘b’ is not the correct answer.
Neither means none of the two options. For example, neither of my parents are vegan. We observe that ‘neither’ correctly fits the context of the given sentence. Hence, we can say that option ‘c’ is the correct answer.
Both means two people or objects. For example, both of her daughters are very good football players. We observe that ‘both’ does not fit the context of the given sentence correctly. Hence, we can say that option ‘d’ is not the correct answer.
Thus, option ‘c’ - ‘neither’ is the correct answer.

Note: Neither is also used as a conjunction. However, in that case, it is followed by ‘nor’. For example, neither her husband nor her children are kind to her. A conjunction is used to join two phrases, clauses or sentences.