A pronoun question with apostrophe choices tests whether you can match a pronoun to its noun and use the right form. First, sort the forms by number, then expand contractions to check whether the sentence needs full words or a word showing ownership. With forms of it or they, ownership takes no apostrophe; contractions use one for missing letters. Ask what noun the pronoun stands for, and read past nearby nouns to match that noun’s number.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the words after the blank and ask what job the pronoun has. Does it identify whose restaurants are meant, or add a subject and verb?
- Hint 2
Find who sets the compost requirement, then ask whether that noun names one city or more than one.
Step-by-step
Sort the forms, then find the city
Step 1Sort and test the forms
At requiring that _____ restaurants compost organic waste, the missing word identifies whose restaurants must compost. Sort the forms by number: those built from it refer to one thing, while their refers to more than one. Can the apostrophe forms show ownership? It's is a contraction for it is or it has, not a form showing ownership, and its' isn't a standard pronoun form. The blank needs a possessive pronoun, a word that shows ownership.
- Step 2
Find whose restaurants are meant
Whose restaurants are covered by the compost requirement? Many cities describes how cities encourage recycling, but the city of Riverton has gone further shifts to the city with the stricter rule. We're finding the city those businesses are in, not counting the businesses themselves. The pronoun stands for the city of Riverton, because these are Riverton's restaurants.
- Step 3
Match the pronoun to one city
How many things does the city of Riverton name? It names one city, even though the city contains many restaurants. Their refers to more than one owner, so it can't stand for Riverton here. One city takes the singular possessive its, making its restaurants mean the restaurants in Riverton. Choice B.