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Difficulty: Very hardApostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

Despite the fact that the two sister cities share a single watershed, each municipality's citizens are responsible for it's preservation.

Which choice most clearly and correctly punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

  1. A
    municipality's citizens are responsible for it's
  2. municipality's citizens are responsible for itsAnswer
  3. C
    municipalities' citizens are responsible for its
  4. D
    municipality's citizens are responsible for its'

Answer

The correct choice is the one that uses the singular possessive noun 'municipality's' and the possessive pronoun 'its'.
The correct option correctly uses the singular possessive noun 'municipality's' and the possessive pronoun 'its'. Since the distributor 'each' is singular, the noun it modifies must be the singular possessive 'municipality's' (not the plural possessive 'municipalities''). To show possession for the singular noun 'watershed', the possessive pronoun 'its' must be used without an apostrophe, as 'it's' is a contraction for 'it is' or 'it has'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine if the noun preceding the citizens should be singular or plural.
The distributor 'each' is grammatically singular and must modify a singular noun. Therefore, we must use the singular form 'municipality' rather than the plural 'municipalities'.
This establishes the correct grammatical number for the noun.
2
Determine the correct possessive punctuation for the singular noun 'municipality'.
To show that the citizens belong to the municipality, we add an apostrophe and 's' to the singular noun, resulting in 'municipality's'.
This applies the standard rule for singular noun possession.
3
Determine the correct pronoun form to indicate possession of the watershed.
The sentence requires a possessive pronoun referring to the singular 'watershed'. The correct possessive pronoun is 'its'. We must avoid the contraction 'it's' (it is) and the non-existent form 'its'.
This ensures the pronoun conveys possession rather than a contraction.

Key Concept

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Apostrophes for Possessives and Contractions

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