Novelist Jane Austen greatly admired the work of Fanny Burney, a popular English author. In fact, scholars believe that a...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• Novelist Jane Austen
  • greatly admired the work of Fanny Burney,
    • a popular English author.

• In fact,
• scholars believe
  • that a passage from the last chapter of Cecilia,
    • a 1782 novel by Burney,
      • likely inspired the title of one of [?] most famous [?] Pride and Prejudice.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence gives us background:

• Novelist Jane Austen greatly admired the work of Fanny Burney, a popular English author.
  • Jane Austen (yes, the famous novelist!) was a fan of another writer named Fanny Burney.

Now the second sentence tells us about a specific influence:

• 'In fact, scholars believe that a passage from the last chapter of Cecilia, a 1782 novel by Burney...'
  • Cecilia was a novel written by Fanny Burney in 1782.
  • Scholars think a particular passage from its last chapter had an influence.

This is where we have the blank:

• '...likely inspired the title of one of ______ Pride and Prejudice.'

Let's look at the choices:

• We need to decide about apostrophes - where do they go and why?
  • Choice A: Austen's most famous novels,
  • Choice B: Austens' most famous novels',
  • Choice C: Austens most famous novels,
  • Choice D: Austen's most famous novel's,

To see what works here, let's understand what the sentence is saying!

The complete phrase is:

• 'one of [blank] most famous [blank] Pride and Prejudice'

Let's break this down:

• 'One of Austen's most famous novels'
  • This is talking about the novels that belong to Austen
  • The novels are Austen's - this shows ownership/possession
  • Austen is one person (Jane Austen), so we need the singular possessive: Austen's

• 'Pride and Prejudice'
  • This is the specific novel being identified
  • It's naming which one of Austen's novels we're talking about
  • This identifying name should be set off with a comma

What do we notice about "novels"?

• Is it possessive? Does "novels" own something?
  • No! Pride and Prejudice is not owned BY the novels
  • Pride and Prejudice IS one of the novels
  • So "novels" is just a regular plural - no apostrophe needed

So we need:

• Austen's (singular possessive - the novels belong to Austen)
• novels, (regular plural with a comma to introduce the specific name)
• The comma before Pride and Prejudice sets off the identifying name

The correct answer is A.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Possessive Apostrophes to Show Ownership

When you want to show that something belongs to someone or something, you use a possessive apostrophe (called possessive case in grammar terms). The placement depends on whether the owner is singular or plural:

For singular owners (one person/thing):

• Add 's to the end
• The student's backpack (one student owns the backpack)
• Jane Austen's novel (Jane Austen wrote the novel)
• The company's policy (one company has the policy)

For plural owners ending in 's' (multiple people/things):

• Add just ' after the s
• The students' backpacks (multiple students own backpacks)
• The companies' policies (multiple companies have policies)

Important: Don't use apostrophes for simple plurals:

• WRONG: The novel's are famous (This makes "novels" possessive when you just mean plural)
• RIGHT: The novels are famous (Just plural - no ownership)

In this question:

• "Austen's" → Shows the novels belong to Austen (one person, so add 's)
• "novels" → Just plural, not possessing anything (so no apostrophe)
• The phrase "one of Austen's most famous novels" correctly shows that the novels belong to Austen, while "Pride and Prejudice" identifies which specific novel we're discussing