We observed the herd of bison reproduced quickly in _____ natural habitat.
Which of the following pronouns correctly completes the sentence above?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In this sentence, "the herd" is our subject. "Herd" is a collective noun, which means that it is a group of people or things referred to as a single entity. Some examples are: class, jury, herd, audience, etc. Given that collective nouns refer to the singular entity, they require singular verbs and pronouns as well. In this case, the "herd" would take the possessive pronoun "its," as the situation shows ownership and "its" is the pronoun that shows a thing's ownership in a sentence. 
"It's" is a contraction that stands for "it is." Since this example requires a possessive pronoun, a verb here would be incorrect.
"They" and "Them" would be used in reference to plural nouns, so they are not correct choices here.

We Observed the Herd of Bison Reproduced Quickly in _____