A pronoun question with apostrophes tests number and the difference between ownership and shortened forms. Sort the forms by number, then expand each shortened form to test the full words in the sentence. An apostrophe marks missing letters in a shortened form, while a possessive form shows an owner. Find the noun the pronoun stands for: one thing needs a singular pronoun, and several need a plural pronoun. Don’t let a nearer noun decide for you.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the words around the blank and write any shortened forms in full. What job does the blank have before “suspense rivals”?
- Hint 2
Look for whose suspense the sentence describes. Does that noun name one thing or more than one?
Step-by-step
Find the owner and match the number
Step 1Test the shortened forms
Start by expanding it's to it is or it has, and they're to they are. Do those full words fit in by the midpoint _____ suspense rivals? They don’t: suspense already has the verb, rivals, and adding it is, it has, or they are before it doesn’t give us a complete sentence. The blank needs a word showing whose suspense it is.
- Step 2
Find whose suspense it is
Whose suspense does the sentence describe? The phrase the novel’s early chapters tells us how the story begins, and the plot soon accelerates shifts our attention to the story as it moves toward the midpoint. The suspense belongs to the novel’s plot, not to the early chapters alone. Although chapters is plural, the sentence is following one novel’s plot, so the owner of the suspense is singular.
- Step 3
Match the singular owner
The singular owner calls for a singular possessive, a word showing that something belongs to one thing. Their points to more than one thing, but one thing takes its, with no apostrophe. Putting its into _____ suspense rivals that of a high-stakes thriller links the suspense to the single novel’s plot, which is the story we’re following to the midpoint. Choice B.