Question

which sentence has correct apostrophe usage? select the best answer.

answer

• because henry teaches catherine, some may think that austen advocates the dominance of henrys intellect.
• my favorite cousins sixteenth birthday party is scheduled for tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m.

Explanation:

🆕 New Concept Discovered: Apostrophes for Possession
Showing ownership for singular and plural nouns.

Step 1: Analyze the first sentence

Let's look at the first option:
"Because Henry teaches Catherine, some may think that Austen advocates the dominance of Henrys' intellect."

• The noun: The intellect belongs to one person named Henry (singular).
• The rule: To show possession for a singular noun, we add an apostrophe followed by an "s" ('s).
• The error: The sentence uses Henrys', which incorrectly places the apostrophe after the "s" as if "Henrys" were a plural noun. The correct spelling should be Henry's.

Step 2: Analyze the second sentence

Let's look at the second option:
"My favorite cousin's sixteenth birthday party is scheduled for tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m."

• The noun: The birthday party belongs to one cousin (singular).
• The rule: To show possession for a singular noun, we add 's to the end of the word (cousin + 's = cousin's).
• The application: The sentence correctly uses cousin's to show that the party belongs to the speaker's singular favorite cousin.

Answer:

My favorite cousin's sixteenth birthday party is scheduled for tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m.