Grammar and usage questions connect form to sentence meaning. Begin with the core subject and verb, then inspect reference and modifying phrases. A sentence that sounds smooth can still assign an action to the wrong person or leave the reader unable to identify a pronoun’s referent.
Reason through the task
Read the complete sentence around the marked portion. Set aside interrupting phrases long enough to identify who does what, then restore them to check attachment. For pronouns, find the intended noun and test number, case and clarity. For comparisons, check that like things are compared. A repair must preserve the original relationship between the people and actions; making one small phrase grammatical is insufficient if it creates a new ambiguity elsewhere.
Worked example and a tempting error
Original example: “After Lena spoke with Priya, she revised the schedule.” Both names can be the antecedent of she. If Lena did the revision, “After speaking with Priya, Lena revised the schedule” makes both actions Lena’s and removes the ambiguity. “After Lena spoke with Priya, they revised the schedule” is grammatically smooth but changes one reviser into two. Choose clarity that preserves the intended fact, rather than simply changing the pronoun to an available grammatical form.
Try a different case
Transfer: “The price of the chairs are listed beside the entrance.” The core subject is price, singular; of the chairs modifies it. The correction is “The price of the chairs is listed beside the entrance.” If the passage instead means several distinct prices, write “The prices of the chairs are listed.” Number follows the intended subject, not the closest noun to the verb.