You are given an English sentence with a blank, and you need to predict the missing word. After completing, the whole sentence should be gramatically correct and non-ambiguous.

[Q]: so matthew went to bright river to meet him missus spencer will drop ____ off there of course she goes on to white sands station herself missus rachel prided herself on always speaking her mind she proceeded to speak it now having adjusted her mental attitude to this amazing piece of news
[A]: him

[Q]: so matthew and i have talked it over off and on ever since we thought we'd get a boy matthew is getting up in years you know he's sixty and he isn't so spry ____ he once was his heart troubles him a good deal and you know how desperate hard it's got to be to get hired help
[A]: as

[Q]: it's ____ seldom matthew sets his mind on anything that when he does i always feel it's my duty to give in and as for the risk there's risks in pretty near everything a body does in this world there's risks in people's having children of their own if it comes to that they don't always turn out well
[A]:
so