Choose the correct word to complete the frustrated roommate's text message.

I tried to fix the new toaster, but ___ suddenly started shooting sparks across the kitchen!

The correct answer is it.

In English, inanimate objects like a toaster are gender-neutral and take the pronoun "it". In many Slavic languages, everyday objects are assigned masculine or feminine genders, which often leads speakers to mistakenly refer to a toaster, table, or car as "he" or "she".