10. What word is used incorrectly in the following sentence? Whoever wrote the letter forgot to sign his or her name.
Answer: C
The word "their" is used incorrectly in the sentence.
In the sentence, the word "their" is incorrectly used as it does not agree with the singular antecedent "Whoever." A more appropriate term would be "his or her" to maintain singular agreement.
A) Whoever
The word "Whoever" is used correctly in the sentence as it refers to an unspecified person, appropriately indicating that it could be either male or female. It functions as a singular pronoun, which aligns with the context of the sentence.
B) wrote
The verb "wrote" is used correctly as it is the past tense of "write," indicating that the action of writing the letter has already taken place. There is no grammatical error associated with this choice.
C) their
The word "their" is used incorrectly because it is a plural pronoun that does not agree with the singular antecedent "Whoever." The correct pronoun that maintains singular agreement should be "his or her."
D) name
The word "name" is used correctly in the sentence as it refers to the noun that the subject forgot to sign. There is no grammatical error with this choice.
Conclusion
The incorrect usage of "their" disrupts the grammatical agreement with the singular subject "Whoever." All other options are used correctly in the sentence, reinforcing the need for proper pronoun agreement in writing. This highlights the importance of maintaining consistency in number and person within sentences.