An apostrophe question with two nouns tests whether each noun owns what comes next. Read past the blank so you can test each noun on its own, including the last one. Flip the nouns with of between them; the meaning must stay the same to show ownership. Then count the owners: one takes ’s, and several ending in s take an apostrophe after it. A noun that owns nothing takes no apostrophe, even when it's plural.
Hints
- Hint 1
Check which noun owns the other by reversing their order with of between them. Does that keep the sentence's meaning?
- Hint 2
Read past the blank to was clogged. Ask whether those words name something the last noun owns or tell what happened to it.
- Hint 3
How many things does one of suggest are in the group, and which item does was clogged describe?
Step-by-step
Test each noun on its own
Step 1Test the first noun for ownership
In one of the printer ____ was clogged, the blank names parts of the printer. Since both nouns change, let's test cartridge first: does a nozzle of the printer cartridge keep the sentence's meaning? It does, so the first noun needs an apostrophe to show that the nozzle belongs to the cartridge. The version with plain cartridges leaves that ownership unmarked, and the second noun still needs its own test.
- Step 2
Read beyond the second noun
What follows the second noun? Read beyond the blank to was clogged and needed replacement, which tells us what happened to the chosen nozzle. The nozzle doesn't own those words, so the second noun takes no apostrophe. That rules out cartridges’ nozzle’s, because its last noun is followed by a verb rather than something it owns.
- Step 3
Count the group, not the chosen item
The phrase one of gives us the last decision: how many nozzles does the sentence need? It picks one member from a group, so the group must be plural. The verb was clogged describes the one nozzle picked, not every nozzle in the cartridge. So it doesn't mean the group noun should be singular. The version ending in nozzle can't name that group; cartridge’s nozzles can, because the technician found one clogged nozzle among several belonging to the cartridge. Choice C.