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Difficulty: Very hardPlural and Possessive Nouns and Pronouns

In the early twentieth century, a dedicated group of female researchers at the Harvard College Observatory, led by the astronomer Edward Pickering, revolutionized the field of stellar spectroscopy. Although the ______ groundbreaking observations were initially undervalued by contemporary male colleagues, the extensive catalogs they compiled eventually laid the foundation for modern stellar classification systems.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

  1. A
    researcher
  2. B
    researchers
  3. C
    researcher's
  4. researchers'Answer

Answer

researchers'
The correct answer is the plural possessive form of the noun. The passage establishes that the observations belong to a group of researchers (plural possessive), which requires the spelling ending in an apostrophe after the plural 's'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the context to determine if the noun should be singular or plural.
The text refers to 'a dedicated group of female researchers' and later uses the plural pronoun 'they' to refer to them, indicating that the noun must be plural.
Identifying the number of the noun ensures grammatical consistency with antecedent and pronoun references.
2
Analyze the syntactic role of the noun to determine if it should be possessive.
The noun modifies the phrase 'groundbreaking observations,' showing that the observations belong to the researchers. Therefore, a possessive form is required.
Possessive forms are necessary when a noun acts as a modifier indicating ownership of another noun.
3
Determine the correct spelling and punctuation for a plural possessive noun.
For a regular plural noun ending in 's' (researchers), the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe after the 's', resulting in 'researchers'.
Applying standard punctuation rules for plural possessive nouns.

Key Concept

Plural and Possessive Nouns
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Plural and Possessive Nouns and Pronouns

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