Pronouns to be used with Animals

Dear Tina1785,
I'm happy to respond.

First of all, I would say that in a personal or familial environment, when one "knows" an animal personally, such as a pet, then we often would use personal gendered pronouns for the animal. That's always in a very informal environment, when people are talking about personal connections (with people and animals) in their own lives. The material on the GMAT is always of a considerably more formal nature, such as an academic journal or a business paper. In such a context, one does not discuss one's personal relationships, and so any animals in this environment would be "it," not "he" or "she."

More to the point, I have NEVER seen an official question discuss animals in the singular. If animals have appeared at all --- and I'm not sure I have even seen this --- then they have appeared in the plural, in which the gender-free "they" would be used. I think the entire issue of what pronoun to use for a single animal is one that the GMAT scrupulously avoids. Animals are not a common topic in history, government, and economics, which are the principal foci of the GMAT Verbal section. I would say: don't worry about this.

Mike