Choosing Determiners for Developed Countries

This question requires selecting the correct word to fill the blank in the sentence: "Among the developed countries, __________ with more equal..." The task involves understanding how determiners or pronouns function to specify which group is being referred to.

Understanding Determiner Usage

We need a word that logically follows "Among the developed countries," and refers to a specific subset of them. Let's look at the options:

• 'these': This is a demonstrative determiner used for plural nouns that are near or have just been mentioned.
• 'those': This is a demonstrative determiner used for plural nouns that are further away or were mentioned earlier. It helps distinguish a specific group.
• 'that': This is a demonstrative determiner used for singular nouns that are further away.
• 'some': This is a quantifier used to refer to an unspecified amount or number of something.

Analyzing the Sentence Context

The phrase "Among the developed countries," sets a general context. The blank needs a word that points to a particular selection from this group. The sentence structure suggests we are talking about specific developed countries that possess a certain quality ("with more equal...").

• 'that' is incorrect because "countries" is plural, and 'that' is used for singular nouns.
• 'these' could potentially be used if the countries were being pointed out immediately, but 'those' is often preferred when referring back to a previously established or understood group, distinguishing them from others.
• 'some' would mean "an unspecified number of developed countries," which is grammatically possible but less specific than intended.
• 'those' fits best here. It acts as a determiner or pronoun referring to a specific group of developed countries being discussed or contrasted. For example, "There are many developed countries. Those with more equal distributions..."

Therefore, 'those' is the most appropriate choice to specify which developed countries are being discussed in relation to having more equal distributions.