What the question looks like
The question reads: “Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?” Every grammar question uses that wording, so it’s the choices that tell you what’s being tested. On these questions, the words stay the same and only the apostrophe and the final “s” move: “bridge’s,” “bridges’,” “bridges.” Sometimes the blank holds two A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence., and sometimes the choices are “its” and “it’s” or “their” and “they’re.”
All of these sound the same out loud, so your ear can’t help. You decide from what the sentence means.
Does it own something, and how many owners?
Run the test on this blank:
“Both bridges were repainted last spring, and the ______ are now dark green.”
- A.
bridge’s railings - B.
bridges’ railings - C.
bridges railings - D.
bridges’ railing’s
- Take the first word and ask whether it owns the word after it. Whose railings are they? They belong to the bridges, so “bridges” needs an apostrophe, and C is out.
- Ask the same of the second word. Right after “railings” comes “are,” a A word for what something does or is, such as carry or seem.. The railings don’t own anything, so they take no apostrophe, and D is out.
- For a word that owns, count the owners. Look for a number word: “a,” “one,” “a single,” or “each” for one owner, and “two,” “both,” “several,” or “all six” for more. Here it’s “Both bridges,” so there are two.
- Put the mark in. One owner gets apostrophe plus “s”: “bridge’s.” More than one owner, when the The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes. already ends in “s,” gets an apostrophe after that “s”: “bridges’.” A has one bridge, so B is the answer.
- Read it back as “the railings belonging to the bridges.” That’s what the sentence means, so B fits.
Here are the three spellings side by side. The first two are The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle., which means they show ownership.
| Spelling | What it says |
|---|---|
| bridge’s | One bridge owns something |
| bridges’ | More than one bridge owns something |
| bridges | More than one bridge, owning nothing |
Which word gets the apostrophe
The owner comes first and the thing it owns comes right after it. Only the owner takes the mark.
A noun that owns the next word needs an apostrophe.
- Right
- After the storm, the farmer’s tractors stalled in the mud.
- Wrong
- After the storm, the farmers tractors stalled in the mud.
The tractors belong to the farmer. With no apostrophe, nothing says so.
Trap: No apostrophe at all
“The volunteers reports were filed on Friday.” It sounds fine, because two nouns often sit together with no mark, as in “the school bus.”
What to do: Read it as “the reports belonging to the volunteers.” If that’s what the sentence means, the owner needs the mark.
Trap: Apostrophe on the thing owned
“After the storm, the farmer’s tractors’ stalled in the mud.” “Farmer’s” is right, but the second apostrophe says the tractors own something, and the next word is “stalled.”
What to do: Look at the word right after the one with the apostrophe. If it’s a verb, a small word like “in,” or the end of the sentence, there’s nothing for it to own.
How many owners?
Once you know a word owns something, the number word in the passage tells you which side of the “s” the apostrophe goes on.
One owner gets apostrophe plus “s.”
- Right
- A single lantern’s glow lit the whole path.
- Wrong
- A single lanterns’ glow lit the whole path.
“A single” means one lantern, so the mark goes before the “s.”
More than one owner, with a plural ending in “s,” gets just an apostrophe after that “s.”
- Right
- Both teams’ coaches met at midfield.
- Wrong
- Both team’s coaches met at midfield.
“Both” means two teams. The plural is “teams,” so the mark goes after its “s.”
A plural that doesn’t end in “s,” such as “children” or “people,” gets apostrophe plus “s,” the same as one owner: “the children’s drawings.”
Trap: Right mark, wrong side of the s
“The workshop has only one loom. The looms’ frame is made of oak.” “Looms’” shows ownership and sounds right, but it says there’s more than one loom. The count sits in the sentence before the blank, so it’s easy to miss.
What to do: Find the number word before you choose, and read the sentence before the blank too. It might be a phrase such as “this single” or “its only.”
Trap: The nearest number
“The team tagged one turtle and timed it in three trials to measure the turtles’ speed.” “Three” sits closer to the blank, but it counts trials. The speed belongs to the one turtle, so the answer is “turtle’s.”
What to do: Tie each number word to the noun it counts: one turtle, three trials. Then spell the owner.
Two nouns in the blank
When the choices change two nouns, decide each one on its own. Both can own something, or one can own and the other can be a plain plural, like “railings” in “the bridges’ railings are now dark green.”
In “The survey covers one island. The island’s shape explains both coasts’ different tide lines,” both nouns own something. One island owns the shape, and two coasts own the tide lines. A choice can get “island’s” right and still slip on the second word.
Each noun gets its own count.
- Right
- The island’s shape explains both coasts’ different tide lines.
- Wrong
- The island’s shape explains both coast’s different tide lines.
The wrong one carries “one island” over to the coasts. “Both” says there are two.
When two names share one thing, only the second takes the mark: “Petra and Sanjay’s workshop.” When each owns a separate thing, both do: “Petra’s and Sanjay’s workshops.”
Its and their
“Its” and “their” already show ownership, so they never take an apostrophe. “It’s” means “it is” or “it has,” and “they’re” means “they are.” To check a choice with an apostrophe, read the long form in the blank.
Use “their” for ownership.
- Right
- Over the centuries, the stones lost their sharp edges.
- Wrong
- Over the centuries, the stones lost they’re sharp edges.
Read it as “lost they are sharp edges.” That makes no sense.
Trap: Apostrophe on its
“The bridge kept it’s original railings.” The apostrophe looks like ownership, because nouns use one for that. But “kept it is original railings” makes no sense.
What to do: Read “it’s” as “it is” or “it has.” If neither fits, take “its.”
“Whose” works the same way. “Who’s” means “who is” or “who has.” The pronouns lesson covers which noun “its” or “their” points back to.
The owner isn’t the subject
Sometimes the blank is the verb right after a possessive, as in “The valley’s topography ______ cold air toward the orchards.” The sentence is about the topography, so “topography” is the The who or what a sentence is about. In “The vault held papers,” it’s the vault.. “Valley’s” only tells you whose topography it is, and the verb matches “topography.”
The verb matches the thing owned.
- Right
- The valley’s topography channels cold air toward the orchards.
- Wrong
- The valley’s topography channel cold air toward the orchards.
“Valley’s” sounds like “valleys,” which pulls toward the plural verb. The subject is one topography.
The subject-verb agreement lesson covers choosing the verb.
When no apostrophe belongs
Plenty of plurals own nothing, and those take no apostrophe. Look at what comes right after the word. If it’s a verb or a small word like “from,” the word owns nothing.
A plural that owns nothing takes no apostrophe.
- Right
- The surveyors mapped every bend in the road.
- Wrong
- The surveyors’ mapped every bend in the road.
Right after “surveyors” comes “mapped,” a verb. The surveyors don’t own anything.
Trap: Apostrophe on a counted plural
“The crew collected several sample’s from the riverbank.” A number word right before the blank makes the choice with an apostrophe look careful, but the samples own nothing. The answer is “samples.”
What to do: Ask what the word owns. If the answer is nothing, leave the apostrophe out.
Practice
Work the three examples, then try five more. For each word in the blank, ask whether it owns the next word and how many owners there are.
Researchers placed a single leafcutter ant by itself in a clear nesting chamber. The ______ contained a cultivated fungus that the insect fed with fresh leaf pieces. By watching the chamber, the researchers could see how the fungus provided food for the ant.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A
ant’s garden
- B
ants’ garden
- C
ants garden
- D
ant’s gardens’
Show the answer
- A
ant’s garden
Correct answerThe passage identifies one ant, and the garden belongs to that ant. The The form of a word that means just one, like box. The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson form “ant’s” correctly marks this ownership.
- B
ants’ garden
The The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson after “ants” marks several ants as owners, but the passage identifies a single ant.
- C
ants garden
The The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes. form “ants” leaves the garden’s ownership unmarked. A The form of a word that means just one, like box. The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. needs an The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson followed by .
- D
ant’s gardens’
The The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson after “gardens” makes the thing owned The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson, but no A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. follows it to be owned, because the A word for what something does or is, such as carry or seem. “contained” comes next. The possessive belongs only on “ant,” the owner.
Solution
The chamber contains a garden belonging to the single leafcutter ant described in the first sentence. To make the The form of a word that means just one, like box. A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. “ant” The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson, add an The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson and : “ant’s.” The completed sentence reads, “The ant’s garden contained a cultivated fungus that the insect fed with fresh leaf pieces.”
To monitor the recovery of wolf populations, a research team uses a single tracking receiver equipped with several rotating dials. During each survey, adjustments to the ______ help field crews detect signals from tagged wolves, whose movements reveal how widely the animals are returning to the previously occupied region.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A
receiver’s dials’
- B
receivers’ dials
- C
receiver’s dials
- D
receivers’ dials’
Show the answer
- A
receiver’s dials’
The The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson after “dials” makes that word The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson, but the dials do not own anything in the sentence.
- B
receivers’ dials
This form treats “receivers” as The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes. by matching it to the nearby plural A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. “dials.” The passage specifies “a single tracking receiver,” so the owner must be The form of a word that means just one, like box..
- C
receiver’s dials
Correct answerThe The form of a word that means just one, like box. The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson “receiver’s” shows that the dials belong to the single receiver. “Dials” is The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes. because the receiver has several of them, and it is not possessive.
- D
receivers’ dials’
The The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes. The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson “receivers’” conflicts with “a single tracking receiver.” The final The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson also makes “dials” possessive even though the dials do not own anything.
Solution
The passage identifies “a single tracking receiver” equipped with “several rotating dials.” The blank therefore needs a The form of a word that means just one, like box. The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. for the owner, “receiver’s,” followed by the The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes. noun “dials.”
The completed phrase is “adjustments to the receiver’s dials.”
To assess how terrain redirects moving snow, researchers working in four mountain basins used aerial photographs taken at the same scale to compare seven ______. The photographs came from repeated flights.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A
avalanche paths with the basins’ contours
- B
avalanche paths’ with the basins’ contours
- C
avalanche paths with the basins’s contours
- D
avalanche paths with the basins contours
Show the answer
- A
avalanche paths with the basins’ contours
Correct answer“Seven” calls for the The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes. “paths,” with no The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson. “Basins’” correctly forms the The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson of the plural A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. “basins.”
- B
avalanche paths’ with the basins’ contours
Adding an The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson to “paths” makes it The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson, although “seven” counts the paths and the paths own nothing in this construction.
- C
avalanche paths with the basins’s contours
“Basins” is The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes., so its The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson takes an The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson after the final “s,” without an additional “s.”
- D
avalanche paths with the basins contours
“Basins” is The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes., but this choice leaves its The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson form unmarked. An The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson is needed after the final “s.”
Solution
Start with “seven,” which tells you that “paths” must be The form of a word that means more than one, like boxes.. The paths own nothing in this construction, so “paths” takes no The mark in “don’t” and “the crew’s log,” which stands for missing letters or shows ownership.Read the lesson.
The phrase “basins’ contours” uses the The form of a word that shows ownership, like the crew’s log or its handle.Read the lesson form of the plural A word for a person, place, thing, or idea, like harbor or silence. “basins.” That form takes an apostrophe after the final “s,” without another “s.” The completed phrase is “avalanche paths with the basins’ contours.”
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