Tom killed him, flattening his head with a shovel after he attacked Tom in a jealous rage.

Tom killed him, flattening his head with a shovel after he attacked Tom in a jealous rage.

• A. Floyd Knowles
• B. Herb Turnbull
• C. Wilkie Wallace
• D. Timothy Wallace

Answer: (B)

The sentence is testing how to track who did what by following pronouns and context. It says that Tom killed someone after that person attacked Tom in a jealous rage. The word “he” in the phrase “after he attacked Tom” points back to the same person who is the object of “Tom killed him.” So the attacker is the one named in the surrounding context as having attacked Tom with jealousy. Among the given names, the one tied to that jealous attack in this scenario is Herb Turnbull, making him the person who attacked Tom and was killed. The other names aren’t described as the attacker in this context, so they don’t fit.

The sentence is testing how to track who did what by following pronouns and context. It says that Tom killed someone after that person attacked Tom in a jealous rage. The word “he” in the phrase “after he attacked Tom” points back to the same person who is the object of “Tom killed him.” So the attacker is the one named in the surrounding context as having attacked Tom with jealousy. Among the given names, the one tied to that jealous attack in this scenario is Herb Turnbull, making him the person who attacked Tom and was killed. The other names aren’t described as the attacker in this context, so they don’t fit.