applebus wrote:
The lair of doodlebugs are a trap for ants, the more careless of which find themselves slipping down its funnel-like sides of loose gravel into the ant lion’s waiting mandibles.
let's understand the meaning of the sentence:
The lair of doodlebugs is a trap for ants.
Careless ants find themselves trapped in it.
error analysis
the lair of doodlebugs - is the subject, hence the verb must be in singular
which refers to ants, a plural noun, thus the reflexive pronoun themselves is correctly used in this sentence.
its - refers to the trap, and is correct here.
the only error here is the verb "are"
A.doodlebugs
are a trap for ants, the more careless of which find
themselves slipping down
itsas mentioned above
B.doodlebugs
are a trap for ants, the more careless of which find
themselves slipping down
theirsame error as in A. introduces a new error - their refers to the trap.
C.the doodlebug
is a trap for ants, the more careless of which
finds itself slipping down their
corrects the error from A & B, introduces 3 new errors
itself & their & singular verb finds
D.the doodlebug
is a trap for ants, the more careless of which find
themselves slipping down
itscorrects the only error from original sentence.
E.the doodlebug
is a trap for ants, the more careless of which
finds itself slipping down
theirthis is the same as C - maybe I'm blind or smth