OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Each of the cats that Jane has owned in her 28 years was abandoned by their mother.A. has owned in her 28 years was abandoned by their mother
This answer choice is grammatically incorrect. The subject of the sentence is in the form of X of Y: Each of the cats. In this case, the core subject is X, i.e., Each. Each is a singular pronoun. However, the sentence continues with the plural pronoun their.
What helps us identify this mistake is the following Stop Sign: Any pronoun in the underlined part of the sentence or after the underlined partB. have owned in her 28 years was abandoned by their mother
This answer choice repeats the original Pronoun mistake. The subject of the sentence is in the form of X of Y: Each of the cats. In this case, the core subject is X, i.e., Each. Each is a singular pronoun. However, the sentence continues with the plural pronoun their.
In addition, this answer choice creates a Subject Verb Agreement mistake (Jane have). C. has owned in her 28 years was abandoned by its mother
The subject of the sentence is in the form of X of Y: Each of the cats. In this case, the core subject is X, i.e., Each. Each is a singular pronoun. This answer choice corrects the original mistake by replacing the plural pronoun their with the singular pronoun its, which agrees with each.D. has owned in her 28 years were abandoned by their mother
This answer choice repeats the original Pronoun mistake. The subject of the sentence is in the form of X of Y: Each of the cats. In this case, the core subject is X, i.e., Each. Each is a singular pronoun. However, the sentence continues with the plural pronoun their.
In addition, this answer choice creates a Subject Verb Agreement mistake. The singular subject of the sentence (Each) does not agree with the plural verb were. E. has found abandoned by its mother in her 28 years was owned by her.
While this answer choice corrects the original Pronoun mistake, it changes the original meaning. In the original sentence we learn that all of Jane's cats were abandoned by their mothers but this version of the sentence changes the order of things and states that Jane owned all the cats she found abandoned (and maybe other cats, too).