5 exercises — practise the isolating intensifier "in and of itself".
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "in and of itself" to say an error is not critical when considered in isolation?
"...not critical in and of itself, but it may indicate..." correctly keeps the fixed three-word order "in and of itself". The other options scramble the internal word order of the fixed phrase.
2 / 5
Which sentence correctly matches the reflexive pronoun in "in and of itself" to a plural subject?
"...the extra unit tests, in and of themselves, do not guarantee..." correctly uses the plural reflexive "themselves" to match the plural subject "tests", keeping the fixed word order. Option B wrongly uses the singular "itself". Options C and D scramble the internal word order.
3 / 5
Which sentence correctly distinguishes "in and of itself" (something considered alone) from the shorter, less formal "in itself" (same meaning, simpler form) while keeping both grammatically intact?
"...not alarming in and of itself, and... not alarming in itself either" correctly keeps both the longer and shorter fixed phrases intact in their standard word order. The other options scramble the internal order of one or both phrases.
4 / 5
Which sentence correctly uses "in and of itself" to say a design pattern is not a problem when considered on its own?
"...not a problem in and of itself, but..." correctly preserves the fixed word order of the phrase. The other options scramble it in various ways.
5 / 5
Which sentence correctly matches the reflexive pronoun in "in and of itself" to a person's action described earlier?
"...not against policy in and of itself..." correctly uses "itself" because the grammatical subject of the clause is the gerund phrase "approving her own pull request" (a non-human subject), not "her". Option B wrongly uses the mismatched "himself". Options C and D scramble the fixed word order.