Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.
Next year famous Mr. Toscanini came to the town to see Mr. Smith again. But ___ couldn’t find ____.
a) she / him
b) they / her
c) he / her
d) she / her
e) he / him

Answer 1

Hint: The blanks are in very specific places. The first blank is before the verb, meaning that it is a replacement for ‘Mr. Toscanini’ and the second blank is after the verb, meaning that it is most likely a replacement for ‘Mr. Smith’.

Complete answer:
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. There are eight types of pronouns - personal, possessive, reflexive, reciprocal, relative, demonstrative, interrogative and indefinite.
Personal pronouns take the place of people or things. They can be either singular or plural, depending whether they refer to one or multiple nouns. Examples include I, me, we, and us.
In the given sentence, there are two people mentioned namely ‘Mr. Toscanini’ and ‘Mr. Smith’. Both of these subjects are masculine due to the word ‘Mr’ being mentioned.
Now, we know what we are looking for. Let us look through the given options
a) she / him - The first pronoun is used for females. The second pronoun is used for males, and it is in the direct object pronoun form, which is correct. However, the first pronoun is incorrect. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
b) they / her - The first pronoun is used for a plural group regardless of gender. The second pronoun is used for females. Both these options are wrong. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
c) he / her - The first pronoun is used for males. However, the second pronoun is used for females. The second pronoun is incorrect. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
d) she / her - Both these pronouns are used for females. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
e) he / him - Both these options are used for males. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.

Note:
Break the given sentence down. Study each part carefully. Then, go through the given options and choose the option which best fits the given requirements of the question.