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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
The virus was very successful at reproducing quickly in it's natural habitat: the human brain.
In this sentence, "the virus" is our subject. "Virus" is an ungendered third-person noun, so its proper possessive pronoun is "its." Watch out for it's: that is a contraction of "it is."
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Over winter break, our AP Spanish class took a trip to South America to practice the language and learn more about different Spanish-speaking cultures. Before we left, every student had to get their vaccinations for yellow fever and typhoid. Our first stop was Bolivia. When we landed at El Alto airport the highest in the world, we could see the city of La Paz sprawling up the hillsides in the shadow of the Andes. The first day in La Paz, we went to the Witches’s Market, run by local yatiri. The yatiri are medical practitioners who perform healing rituals in they’re communities. At the market, we saw dried frogs, llama fetuses, herbs, and seeds, used in various rituals. After we visited La Paz, we traveled to Cochabamba. Cochabamba is Bolivia’s culinary capital, with delicious specialties such as salteñas and rellenos. In Cochabamba, we also climbed 1400 steps to see the Cristo de La Concordia statue, the tallest of it’s kind in South America. Next, we visited the salt flats of Uyuni. Several lagoons dotted the high desert landscape, some of who were full of flamingos!
On our way out of Bolivia, we stopped at Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian border. Because the lake’s elevation is over 12,000 feet, some of my classmates experienced a bit of altitude sickness. Despite the altitude sickness, everyone said they loved seeing the beautiful scenery and visiting the mysterious “floating islands” made of reeds. When we crossed the border into Peru, one of my classmates thought she had lost her passport. I would of had a panic attack! She ended up finding it buried in a pocket of her backpack and we were on our way.
My favorite part of Peru was our trek to the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. We spent four days hiking in the Andes on a trail to the ruins. Our guides, whom spoke Spanish, English, and Quechua, were very knowledgeable about the history, flora, and fauna in the region. Upon waking up the next morning, a beautiful sunrise greeted us and cast the mountains in its soft pink glow. After we explored the ruins, we took a train ride back to Cuzco. The next day, we flew to Lima and prepared to return home. I was sad to leave, but I know I would be back some day!
Select the answer choice that best corrects the bolded, underlined portion of the passage. If the sentence is correct as written, select NO CHANGE.
Yatiri is plural, so it needs the possessive plural pronoun "their." The incorrect answer choices are either singular pronouns, or incorrect spellings/usage of "their" in the possessive form ("there" implies location and "they're" means "they are").
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Over winter break, our AP Spanish class took a trip to South America to practice the language and learn more about different Spanish-speaking cultures. Before we left, every student had to get their vaccinations for yellow fever and typhoid. Our first stop was Bolivia. When we landed at El Alto airport the highest in the world, we could see the city of La Paz sprawling up the hillsides in the shadow of the Andes. The first day in La Paz, we went to the Witches’s Market,run by local yatiri. The yatiri are medical practitioners who perform healing rituals in they’re communities. At the market, we saw dried frogs, llama fetuses, herbs, and seeds, used in various rituals. After we visited La Paz, we traveled to Cochabamba. Cochabamba is Bolivia’s culinary capital, with delicious specialties such as salteñas and rellenos. In Cochabamba, we also climbed 1400 steps to see the Cristo de La Concordia statue, the tallest of it’s kind in South America. Next, we visited the salt flats of Uyuni. Several lagoons dotted the high desert landscape, some of who were full of flamingos!
On our way out of Bolivia, we stopped at Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian border. Because the lake’s elevation is over 12,000 feet, some of my classmates experienced a bit of altitude sickness. Despite the altitude sickness, everyone said they loved seeing the beautiful scenery and visiting the mysterious “floating islands” made of reeds. When we crossed the border into Peru, one of my classmates thought she had lost her passport. I would of had a panic attack! She ended up finding it buried in a pocket of her backpack and we were on our way.
My favorite part of Peru was our trek to the ancient Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. We spent four days hiking in the Andes on a trail to the ruins. Our guides, whom spoke Spanish, English, and Quechua, were very knowledgeable about the history, flora, and fauna in the region. Upon waking up the next morning, a beautiful sunrise greeted us and cast the mountains in its soft pink glow. After we explored the ruins, we took a train ride back to Cuzco. The next day, we flew to Lima and prepared to return home. I was sad to leave, but I know I would be back some day!
Select the answer choice that best corrects the bolded underlined portion of the passage. If the sentence is correct as written, select NO CHANGE.
In this case, "its" is possessive. The possessive form of its does not use an apostrophe. "It's" means "it is." The other answers are incorrect because they assign a plural pronoun to a singular subject.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
One does not get as much out of college if one does not do your homework.
In this sentence, the subject is the pronoun, "one." When the antecedent is the word, "one," the correct possessive pronoun is always one's.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
Treat Mother well; you never know when you will need her help.
In this sentence, the second part of the sentence is clearly referring to needing help from "Mother." Mother is a third person, feminine noun, so the correct possessive pronoun is "her."
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Jeremy had no luck convincing the members of the orchestral committee about his suggestions. He pleaded, cajoled, was begging, and even threatened the committee at various times, but yet despite being the conductor, he couldnt get them to agree to his requests. Despite many attempts, the committee would not listen to him. In the end, he decided to go through with the Christmas concert despite him not having his favorite composer on the program. Afterward, one of his friends, whom was in the audience, came up and asked him why was there no Handel on the program? "I did try" Jeremy replied "but the committee were unanimously against me. I nearly begged them all day to put one piece on the program. But try as I might I could not get a Handel on it."
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
A possessive pronoun is used before gerunds like "having;" thus "his not having" would be appropriate here.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Who's coat is that?
The possessive form of who is "whose." In this sentence the author is wondering who the coat belongs to, or who possesses the coat. "Who's" is only used to mean "who is" and "whom" is the objective form of "who."
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Adapted from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley (1855)
If he had frankly said to Eustace, "I feel for you; and if your desires are reasonable, or lawful, or possible, I will help you with all my heart and soul," he might have had the young man's secret heart, and saved himself an hour's trouble; but, of course, he took instinctively the crooked and suspicious method, expected to find the case the worst possible—as a man was bound to do who had been trained to take the lowest possible view of human nature, and to consider the basest motives as the mainspring of all human action—and began his moral torture accordingly by a series of delicate questions, which poor Eustace dodged in every possible way, though he knew that the good father was too cunning for him, and that he must give in at last. Nevertheless, like a rabbit who runs squealing round and round before the weasel, into whose jaws it knows that it must jump at last by force of fascination, he parried and parried, and pretended to be stupid, and surprised, and honorably scrupulous, and even angry; while every question as to she being married or single, Catholic or not, English or foreign, brought his tormentor a step nearer the goal. At last, when Campian, finding the business not such a very bad one, had asked something about her worldly wealth, Eustace saw a door of escape and sprang at it.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the bolded and underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
The word "being" is a gerund, which means that it no longer functions as a verb but rather as a noun. The modifier before the gerund must be possessive in order to be grammatically correct. Pronouns can be classified into three cases (subjective, objective, and possessive). Any forms using "she" are considered subjective.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
Stu and Tammy put his or her hats on, and went out into the rain.
The subject of this sentence is "Stu and Tammy." Because two people are the subject, you could subsitute the pronoun "they" for the subject. Whenever you have the subject, "they," the proper possessive pronoun is "their."
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
Francis was frustrated at being accosted about a bag of his own groceries. "You are mistaken, Officer," said Francis. "Those fruits and vegetables are ours."
Based on the context given in the first sentence, Francis is clearly carrying a bag of his own property; therefore, when he speaks to the police officer, he is referring to his property. Because he is speaking in the first person, and is alone, the correct possessive pronoun is
"mine."
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
If anyone does not follow the rules, his or her life may be in danger.
Anyone is a singular pronoun; therefore you need to use a singular possessive pronoun (in this case, his, or her). Because "anyone" is also not a gendered pronoun, you must use "his or her."
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
Employees must wash his or her hands before returning to work.
The subject of the sentence is the word "employees," which is plural. It is also third person; therefore, you must you use the possessive pronoun their.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
If they do not do their job, we cannot do theirs; we need them to finish before we can start.
You know from the context in the last part of the sentence, that there are two groups of people. The first group, of which the speaker is not a part, and is therefore a third person plural group. The second is clearly a first-person plural group; therefore, when referring to the job that that group has to do, the correct pronoun is "ours."
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence below:
If you don't start playing better, we're going to lose, and I am going to regret picking you for your team.
Here, due to the context of the sentence, we know that the speaker of the sentence is on a team with the person with whom they are speaking. As such, the correct way to refer to the team that they are both members of is "our."
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
A panicked Pedro barged into the room, a look of concern on his face. "Who's car is parked on the front lawn?" he shouted.
A possessive pronoun is needed here, to indicate possession of the car. "Who's" is a contraction meaning "who is," which is not appropriate in this sentence. "Whose" is the possessive, the correct choice in this instance.
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Passage adapted from Under The Lilacs (1878) by Louisa May Alcott
The elm-tree avenue was all overgrown, the great gate was never unlocked, and the old house had been shut up for several years.
Yet voices were heard about the place, the lilacs nodded over the high wall as if they said, "We could tell fine secrets if we chose," and the mullein outside the gate made haste to reach the keyhole, that it might peep in and see what was going on. If it had suddenly grown up like a magic bean-stalk, and looked in on a certain June day, it would have seen a droll but pleasant sight, for somebody evidently was going to have a party.
From the gate to the porch went a wide walk, paved with smooth slabs of dark stone, and bordered with the tall bushes which met overhead, making a green roof. All sorts of neglected flowers and wild weeds grew between their stems, covering the walls of this summer parlor with the prettiest tapestry. A board, propped on two blocks of wood, stood in the middle of the walk, covered with a little plaid shawl much the worse for wear, and on it a miniature tea-service was set forth with great elegance. To be sure, the tea-pot had lost its spout, the cream-jug its handle, the sugar-bowl its cover, and the cups and plates were all more or less cracked or nicked; but polite persons would not take notice of these trifling deficiencies, and none but polite persons were invited to this party.
On either side of the porch was a seat, and here a somewhat remarkable sight would have been revealed to any inquisitive eye peering through the aforesaid keyhole. Upon the left-hand seat lay seven dolls, upon the right-hand seat lay six; and so varied were the expressions of their countenances, owing to fractures, dirt, age, and other afflictions, that one would very naturally have thought this a doll's hospital, and these the patients waiting for their tea.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the passage. If the bolded and underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
No change is needed because 'its' is the correct possessive pronoun for this phrase.
"His spout" is incorrect because the teapot has no gender. "The spout" is incorrect because a possessive pronoun is needed, not an article. "It's spout" is incorrect because "it's" is a conjunction for "it is," and is not a possessive pronoun.
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Who's dog is in my yard?
You need the possessive subject form of "who" (vs the object "whom"). The sentence as written forms a conjunction ("who is"). "Whose" is the correct possessive form for "who"
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Elyse and Anna put on his or her boots and went for a hike.
You need a plural possessive form because you have two people putting on boots. "Their" is correct ("they're" is incorrect as it means "they are" and is not possessive)
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Select the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the sentence is correct as is, select "NO CHANGE."
Most budgeting guidelines say that nobody should spend more than one third of their income on rent, but some cities are so expensive that this is difficult to do.
"Nobody" is singular and needs the singular possessive pronouns "his or her," as a general, plural non-gendered subject is being used
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Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
The lizard bobbed it's head up and down in a mating display.
The possessive form of "it" does not have an apostrophe (but you still need to use the singular "it" to modify "lizard").
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