An apostrophe question tests whether a noun owns something and how many owners there are. Read through the blank and test each noun on its own, skipping words that describe the next noun. To test ownership, flip the nouns with of between them: does that phrase keep the sentence’s meaning? Then count the owners: one takes ’s, and several ending in s take an apostrophe after s. A noun that owns nothing needs no apostrophe.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read past the blank to themes. Ask whose themes these are.
- Hint 2
After testing ownership, use the first sentence to count the owners. How can you tell whether it names one or more than one?
Step-by-step
Test ownership, then count
Step 1Find what the noun owns
Read past the blank to themes in her work, because this apostrophe question asks whether the noun owns those themes. Whose themes are they? Try the of test: the themes of the novels says what the sentence means, so the noun needs an apostrophe.
- Step 2
Check the describing word
Central tells us what kind of themes these are: important ones. Does it own anything? No, it describes the noun rather than owning it, so central stays without an apostrophe. We can set aside novels central for not showing ownership and novels central’s for marking the describing word instead.
- Step 3
Count the novels
The first sentence gives us novels remain influential. How many owners does that mean? The themes belong to more than one novel, even though One of singles out one theme. Several owners ending in s take an apostrophe after the s, so the phrase is novels’ central. Choice C.