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Difficulty: MediumApostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

Although the two separate engineering teams worked diligently on the locomotive, the crews' primary concern was it's electrical system.

Which choice is the correct spelling and punctuation of the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    crews' primary concern was it's
  2. crews' primary concern was itsAnswer
  3. C
    crew's primary concern was its
  4. D
    crews primary concern was its

Answer

crews' primary concern was its
The correct answer is 'crews' primary concern was its'. Since the sentence specifies that there are 'two separate engineering teams,' the plural possessive noun 'crews'' is required to show ownership of the 'concern.' In addition, the pronoun refers to the singular noun 'locomotive,' which requires the possessive pronoun 'its' rather than the contraction 'it's' (which means 'it is').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine if the noun referring to the engineering teams should be singular or plural, and if it requires possessive punctuation.
The sentence references 'two separate engineering teams,' which indicates multiple groups. Therefore, the plural noun 'crews' is needed. Because the 'concern' belongs to these crews, the noun must be possessive. The correct plural possessive spelling is 'crews''.
For plural nouns ending in 's,' the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe after the final 's.'
2
Determine whether the possessive pronoun 'its' or the contraction 'it's' is appropriate to refer to the locomotive's system.
The pronoun modifies 'electrical system' and refers back to the singular locomotive. A possessive pronoun is required here. The spelling 'its' represents the possessive pronoun, whereas 'it's' is a contraction for 'it is.'
Possessive pronouns do not use apostrophes, while apostrophes in pronouns indicate contractions.
3
Combine the findings to select the correct choice.
The option containing the plural possessive noun 'crews'' and the possessive pronoun 'its' is the only grammatically correct combination.
It matches the plural antecedent of the teams and avoids the contraction error.

Key Concept

Apostrophes are used to show possession for nouns (adding 's for singular nouns and an apostrophe after the s for plural nouns ending in s) but are never used for possessive pronouns like 'its' (which is the possessive form, while 'it's' is a contraction for 'it is').
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Topics

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

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