Question

Fill in the blank using the possessive form of the noun given in the bracket:
Varun is the _________ favourite student in our class. (teacher)
(a)teacher’s
(b)teachers’
(c)teachers
(d)none of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Each of the given options signifies different meanings.Try to look for the correct apostrophe placement.

Complete answer: A noun is a word that names something: either a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective.

The general rule is that the possessive of a singular noun is formed by adding an apostrophe and s, whether the singular noun ends in s or not. The possessive of a plural noun is formed by adding only an apostrophe when the noun ends in s, and by adding both an apostrophe and s when it ends in a letter other than s.

Now we know exactly what we are looking for. Let’s look at the given options:
(a)teacher’s - This option is indicative that the root noun is singular, which is correct. It also indicates possession. This means that it fits perfectly into the context of the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
(b)teachers’ - This option is indicative that the root noun is plural, which is incorrect. It also indicates possession. However, this means that it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(c)teachers - This option is indicative that the root noun is plural, which is incorrect. It does not indicate possession. So, this means that it does not fit into the context of the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(d)none of the above - This option is incorrect as we have already found the correct answer from the above options.

Note: Go through each option and try to decipher its meaning. It should be easy to then choose the most appropriate option accordingly. Identify the grammatically correct and the most contextually sound option.