Question 137·Medium·Form, Structure, and Sense
During the community theater's production of Romeo and Juliet, the director arranged for _____ to be hand-dyed using natural pigments so that the colors would more closely resemble those worn in Shakespeare's time.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
For possessive-noun questions, first decide if the sentence needs possession (ownership) or just a simple plural; look for the thing being owned (here, costumes) and ask who owns it. Next, determine whether the owner is singular or plural from the context, and whether the plural already ends in s. Then apply the rules: singular nouns usually take 's, regular plurals ending in s usually take just an apostrophe, and irregular plurals (like "children") take 's. Finally, eliminate any choice that conflicts with the logic of the sentence (one vs. many owners) or misplaces the apostrophe.
Hints
Identify what the blank is describing
Look at the words right after the blank: "costumes." Are we just naming what kind of costumes they are, or are we showing that the costumes belong to someone?
Think about how many people are involved
In a community theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet, are there likely to be one actor or many actors? Use that to decide whether the noun before "costumes" should be singular or plural.
Focus on the apostrophe placement
Compare how each answer choice uses the apostrophe with the word involving "actor." Which choice correctly shows that more than one actor owns the costumes?
Recall the rule for plurals ending in s
For a plural noun that already ends in s, how do you usually show possession: do you add just an apostrophe, or do you add both an apostrophe and another s?
Step-by-step Explanation
Decide what grammar job the blank is doing
Read the sentence: it is talking about costumes that are used in a community theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet.
Ask: what is the relationship between the people (actors) and the costumes? The costumes belong to the actors, so the noun in the blank must be possessive (showing ownership), not just a plain plural noun.
Decide if the owner is singular or plural
Ask: Do the costumes belong to one actor or to more than one actor?
In a community theater production of a play, there are many actors, each with costumes. So logically, we are talking about multiple actors, not just a single actor owning all the costumes.
That means we need a plural possessive form of 'actor.'
Recall the rule for plural possessives
For possessive nouns:
- If the noun is singular (does not end in s), we usually add 's (for example: "the actor's role").
- If the noun is a regular plural that already ends in s (like "actors"), we usually add only an apostrophe after the s.
So here we need the form that treats "actors" as a plural and shows possession according to this rule.
Match the rule to the answer choices
Now check each choice:
- One choice has no apostrophe at all, which does not show possession.
- One choice makes actor singular, which does not fit a play with many actors.
- One choice adds 's after an already plural "actors," which is not the standard way to form a plural possessive for a regular plural.
- The remaining choice treats "actors" as plural and adds just an apostrophe to show that the costumes belong to them.
Therefore, the correct answer is "the actors’ costumes."