An apostrophe question tests whether a noun names one or more things and whether it shows ownership. Read past the blank, skipping describing words, and ask whether the noun owns what's named next. If it does, count the owners in the passage. One owner takes an apostrophe plus s; several owners ending in s take an apostrophe after it. A noun that owns nothing takes no apostrophe, so being plural is not a reason to add one.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look after the blank for the noun that distinctive describes.
- Hint 2
Try the of test by turning the phrase around to ask whose approaches they are.
- Hint 3
Count the studios named in the passage. Which words tell you how many there are?
Step-by-step
Test ownership, then count owners
Step 1Find what the studios own
Read past the blank to distinctive approaches, because an apostrophe would have to show that the studios own what's named next. Which word names the thing they might own? The first word describes the approaches, so skip it and use the of test, flipping the nouns: the distinctive approaches of the studios. That keeps the meaning, since the curator is comparing how the studios light portraits and use painted backdrops. The studios own those approaches, so the blank needs an apostrophe.
- Step 2
Count the studio owners
How many studios own those approaches? The passage names a studio in New Orleans and a studio in Savannah, so these are separate studios in separate cities. The phrase the two points back to that pair. That gives us two studio owners, no matter how many portraits, lighting methods, or painted backdrops each one has.
- Step 3
Use the plural possessive
Which form shows ownership by more than one studio? The form studios has no apostrophe, and studio is singular with no apostrophe, so neither shows ownership here. The form studio's gives one owner, which doesn't fit the two. A plural noun ending in s takes an apostrophe after it to show ownership, so studios' is the plural possessive, the form that shows both more than one studio and ownership. Choice A.