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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

It or they?

The days when he lived in the countryside were long; ___ had a great effect on his later life.

A. it B. they
  

Top answer

Would you like to try first, Anon, or to explain what the problem might be? Best wishes, MrP

— MrPedantic

  • Would you like to try first, Anon, or to explain what the problem might be?
  • Best wishes, MrP
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5 Answers
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Would you like to try first, Anon, or to explain what the problem might be?

Best wishes,

MrP
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B. they.

The days ... were long; the days had a great effect ...

'they' is used to avoid repeating 'the days' - plural, many days.
'it' would be used for 'the day' - singular, one day only.
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More often than not, time, distance, units of measurement, money can be regarded as a whole unit.

for example:

Ten dollars is enough.

Ten years has passed.

So I would choose "it".

Is it reasonable?

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Yes, that's reasonable; "it" would refer to the complete period of living in the countryside, while "they" would refer to the "days" as separate entities.

Thus both answers are possible, to my mind. My own preferred pronoun here would be "this".
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My own preferred pronoun here would be "this".

I agree MrPedantic, but I was looking at this as a multiple choice question.
More properly, a binary choice question, since only two options are given.
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