Surveys conducted by the municipal library have been highly informative, notes director Elias Thorne, particularly when the questions allow for specific preferences: for instance, patron satisfaction scores rose by 20 percent after a digital form was updated to ask visitors whether ______ preferred e-books or physical copies.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
one
they
it
you
Correct Answer: B
Choice B is the best answer. The pronoun "they" correctly refers to the plural antecedent "visitors." In this context, the survey is asking the visitors about their specific preferences.
Choice A is incorrect because "one" is a generic, singular pronoun that does not agree with the specific plural group "visitors." Choice C is incorrect because "it" is a singular pronoun used for objects or concepts, not people. Choice D is incorrect because "you" shifts the perspective to the second person, which clashes with the third-person narrative established in the sentence.