Question

which of the following sentences correctly uses apostrophes? select the best answer.

answer

once midnight struck, the couple quickly returned to their homes, hoping they did not wake their parents.
until the puppy ran through the sprinkler and washed off its spots, myra and ellis didnt realize it was their dog!

Explanation:

🆕 New Concept Discovered: Apostrophe Rules
Showing possession vs. plural nouns vs. contractions

Step 1: Analyze the first sentence

Let's look at the first option:
"Once midnight struck, the couple quickly returned to their home's, hoping they did not wake their parents."

• Analysis of "home's": The word "homes" is used here as a plural noun (meaning they returned to their respective houses). Adding an apostrophe before the "s" makes it possessive ("home's"), which is incorrect because nothing belongs to the home in this context.
• Conclusion: This sentence is incorrect.

Step 2: Analyze the second sentence

Let's look at the second option:
"Until the puppy ran through the sprinkler and washed off its spots, Myra and Ellis didn't realize it was their dog!"

• Analysis of "its": "Its" is a possessive pronoun meaning "belonging to it" (the puppy's spots). It does not need an apostrophe. (Note: "it's" with an apostrophe means "it is", which would be incorrect here).
• Analysis of "didn't": This is a correct contraction of "did not", where the apostrophe replaces the missing letter "o".
• Conclusion: This sentence uses all apostrophes and possessive pronouns correctly.

Answer:

Until the puppy ran through the sprinkler and washed off its spots, Myra and Ellis didn't realize it was their dog!