In the sentence 'Father drove the car into the garage beside our house with its headlights on,' the pronoun 'its' most clearly refers to which noun?

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Multiple Choice

In the sentence 'Father drove the car into the garage beside our house with its headlights on,' the pronoun 'its' most clearly refers to which noun?

Explanation:
The thing being referred to by its is the noun that owns the headlights. In this sentence, the only plausible owner of headlights is the car, since cars have headlights that can be on. The garage and the house don’t have headlights in the way a car does, so they don’t fit as the antecedent. If you substitute the car’s, the sentence reads naturally: with the car’s headlights on. That shows the pronoun its correctly points to the car.

The thing being referred to by its is the noun that owns the headlights. In this sentence, the only plausible owner of headlights is the car, since cars have headlights that can be on. The garage and the house don’t have headlights in the way a car does, so they don’t fit as the antecedent. If you substitute the car’s, the sentence reads naturally: with the car’s headlights on. That shows the pronoun its correctly points to the car.

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