An apostrophe question tests whether a noun is plural, shows ownership, or both. Read the words around the blank, including the noun that follows it. To test for ownership, turn the phrase around with of and ask whether it keeps the sentence’s meaning. Then count the owners in the passage: one takes ’s, while several owners ending in s take an apostrophe after that s. A plain plural has no apostrophe, and the number of things owned doesn’t tell you how many owners there are.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the noun right after the blank. Can you turn the phrase around with of to see whether the missing noun owns it?
- Hint 2
Count the reports named in the first sentence. The number of recommendations is a separate count.
Step-by-step
Check ownership, then count
Step 1Test what the report owns
Read past the blank to recommendations, because the word after a noun helps us decide whether it needs an apostrophe. Does the report own those recommendations? The of test gives us the recommendations of the report, which matches the sentence’s meaning: the report presents advice about traffic and transit. So the report owns the recommendations in grammar. The missing word needs a possessive form, which shows ownership.
- Step 2
Count the reports
How many reports own these recommendations? The committee released its final report, which names one report, so there’s one owner. The later sentence lists two things the city must do: reduce congestion and improve public transit. Those are two recommendations in one report, so the number of recommendations doesn’t make the report plural.
- Step 3
Place the apostrophe
Where does the apostrophe go for one owner? A singular owner takes ’s, while a plural owner ending in s takes an apostrophe after that s. Start with the singular noun report and add ’s once; that ending already shows ownership, so no second apostrophe is needed. The result is report’s before recommendations. Choice A.