Punctuation and Possession: TEAS Practice Question with Answer & Explanation
An original TEAS 7-style english practice question, written for nursing-school applicants — with a full breakdown of every answer choice.
Question
Identify the grammatical error in the following sentence: "Despite the storm, the neighbors claimed that the trampoline in the middle of the street was their's, even though the safety nets weren't attached."
- A.The use of a comma after the introductory phrase "Despite the storm"
- B.The use of the apostrophe in the possessive pronoun "their's"Correct
- C.The use of the apostrophe in the contraction "weren't"
- D.The capitalization of the word "Backyard"
Correct answer: B. The word 'theirs' is a possessive pronoun and should never contain an apostrophe. This is a common error tested on the TEAS English section.
Understanding Possessive Pronouns and Apostrophes
On the TEAS 7 English and Language Usage section, apostrophe usage is a frequent focal point. This question tests your ability to distinguish between possessive pronouns and contractions.
Why "Their's" is Incorrect
The correct answer is B. In the sentence provided, the word "their's" is used to show ownership. However, in the English language, independent possessive pronouns—such as his, hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs—never take an apostrophe. Because these words are already possessive by nature, adding an apostrophe is redundant and grammatically incorrect. The correct spelling is theirs.
Analysis of Incorrect Options
- A: The use of a comma after "Despite the storm": This is actually correct. "Despite the storm" is an introductory prepositional phrase. When an introductory phrase is long or provides context for the sentence, a comma is typically used to separate it from the main clause.
- C: The use of the apostrophe in "weren't": This is correct. "Weren't" is a contraction of "were not." In contractions, the apostrophe is used to represent the missing letter (the "o" in "not").
- D: The capitalization of "Backyard": (Note: This word was not in the prompt sentence, but in a TEAS setting, if a noun like "trampoline" or "street" were capitalized, it would be an error. In this specific question, we are looking for the most glaring punctuation error involving the apostrophe.)
TEAS Concept: The "No-Apostrophe" Rule for Possessives
Many students get confused because they are taught that 's indicates possession (e.g., "The cat's toy"). While this is true for nouns, it is the opposite for pronouns.
| Correct Possessive Pronoun | Common Error (Incorrect) | | :--- | :--- | | Its | It's (This means "it is") | | Theirs | Their's | | Hers | Her's | | Yours | Your's | | Ours | Our's |
Nursing Student Study Tip
Think of possessive pronouns like the word HIS. You would never write "hi's." Since his doesn't need an apostrophe to show ownership, remember that its "friends" (hers, theirs, its) don't need them either! Saving that apostrophe for contractions only will help you score higher on the TEAS English section.
Quick study tip: Memorize that possessive pronouns like 'its', 'theirs', and 'hers' never use apostrophes; apostrophes in these words are only for contractions.
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