Examkin

Question

Difficulty: HardApostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

Because the three municipal clinics shared a digital archival system, the clinic's administrators were able to retrieve patient histories without compromising they're privacy.

Which choice represents the correct punctuation and word choice for the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    NO CHANGE
  2. clinics' administrators were able to retrieve patient histories without compromising theirAnswer
  3. C
    clinic's administrators were able to retrieve patient histories without compromising their
  4. D
    clinics' administrators were able to retrieve patient histories without compromising they're

Answer

The choice containing 'clinics' administrators were able to retrieve patient histories without compromising their' is correct because it correctly uses the plural possessive noun 'clinics'' and the possessive pronoun 'their'.
The correct choice uses the plural possessive noun 'clinics'' because the introductory phrase establishes that there are multiple clinics ('three municipal clinics'). It also correctly uses the possessive pronoun 'their' to indicate the privacy belonging to the patients.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine if the noun 'clinic' should be singular or plural, and possessive or not.
The sentence refers to 'three municipal clinics', which means multiple clinics are involved. The administrators belong to these clinics, so we need the plural possessive form, which is 'clinics'.
Plural nouns ending in 's' form their possessive by adding an apostrophe after the 's'.
2
Determine if the pronoun modifying 'privacy' should be a possessive pronoun or a contraction.
The context requires a possessive pronoun to show that the privacy belongs to the patients. The possessive pronoun is 'their', not the contraction 'they're' (which stands for 'they are').
Substituting 'they are' into the sentence ('without compromising they are privacy') is grammatically incorrect.
3
Combine these findings to select the correct choice.
The correct option must contain both 'clinics'' and 'their'.
Only this combination satisfies both grammatical requirements.

Key Concept

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions
Rate this question

Topics

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

More questions from this topic