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Difficulty: Very hardApostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

Though the two companies announced a mutual merger, each board's members defended it's own autonomy during the final negotiations.

Which of the following is the best replacement for the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. board's members defended itsAnswer
  3. C
    boards' members defended its
  4. D
    board's members defended its'

Answer

board's members defended its
The correct option correctly applies the singular possessive form 'board's' to agree with the singular modifier 'each', and it uses the possessive pronoun 'its' (without an apostrophe) to refer to the singular noun 'board'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine whether 'board' should be singular or plural possessive.
Since the sentence uses the word 'each' to refer to the individual boards, the noun must be singular. To show possession of the members, we use the singular possessive form, 'board's'.
The adjective 'each' always modifies a singular noun.
2
Determine the correct pronoun to replace 'it's'.
The pronoun refers back to the singular noun 'board' and must show possession of 'autonomy'. The singular possessive pronoun is 'its'.
'It's' is a contraction for 'it is' or 'it has', and 'its'' is a non-existent spelling. A possessive pronoun is needed here.
3
Combine the correct noun form and pronoun form to choose the correct replacement.
The correct combination is 'board's' and 'its'.
This option resolves both the noun punctuation error and the pronoun homophone error.

Key Concept

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

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