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Question

Difficulty: MediumApostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

Read the sentence and choose the best replacement for the underlined portion.

During the excavation of the ancient Roman villa, when the three archaeologists uncovered a detailed mosaic, the archaeologists' primary goal was to protect it's delicate glass tiles from environmental damage.

Which of the following options represents the correct punctuation and usage for this sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. B
    archaeologist's primary goal was to protect its
  3. archaeologists' primary goal was to protect itsAnswer
  4. D
    archaeologists primary goal was to protect it's

Answer

archaeologists' primary goal was to protect its
The correct option correctly uses the plural possessive noun 'archaeologists'' to modify 'primary goal' since there are three archaeologists. It also correctly uses the possessive pronoun 'its' to refer to the tiles belonging to the mosaic.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine if the noun 'archaeologists' should be singular or plural, and if it requires a possessive form.
The sentence mentions 'three archaeologists', which means the noun must be plural. The goal belongs to these archaeologists, so a plural possessive form is required: 'archaeologists'.
Plural nouns ending in -s form their possessives by adding an apostrophe after the -s.
2
Determine whether to use 'its' or 'it's' to modify 'delicate glass tiles'.
The tiles belong to the mosaic, so we need the possessive pronoun 'its'. The contraction 'it's' stands for 'it is' or 'it has' and does not fit grammatically in this context.
'Its' is the possessive form, whereas 'it's' is a contraction.
3
Combine the correct forms and select the matching option.
The correct phrase is 'archaeologists' primary goal was to protect its'.
This matches the option containing both the correct plural possessive and the correct possessive pronoun.

Key Concept

Distinguishing between singular and plural possessives, and between the possessive pronoun 'its' and the contraction 'it's'.
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Topics

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

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