Photographer Ansel Adams's landscape portraits are iconic pieces of American art. However, many of the ______ of landscapes were intended...

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

First sentence:

• Photographer Ansel Adams's landscape portraits
  • are iconic pieces of American art.

Second sentence:

• However,
  • many of the [?] early [?] of landscapes
    • were intended not as art but as marketing;
  • a concessions company at Yosemite National Park
    • had hired Adams
      • to take pictures of the park
        • for restaurant menus and brochures.

Understanding the Meaning

The first sentence tells us who we're talking about:

• Photographer Ansel Adams's landscape portraits are iconic pieces of American art.
  • So we know Ansel Adams is a photographer
  • His landscape portraits are famous works of art

Now the second sentence gives us a contrast:

• "However, many of the ______ of landscapes were intended not as art but as marketing"

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices:

• All choices have: "early photo/photos of landscapes"
• What varies:
  • photographer's vs. photographers (possessive vs. plural)
  • photo's vs. photos (with or without apostrophe)

To see what works here, let's read the rest of the sentence and understand what it's saying!

The sentence continues:

• "a concessions company at Yosemite National Park had hired Adams to take pictures of the park for restaurant menus and brochures."

Now let's understand what this complete sentence is telling us:

• The contrast being set up:
  • Adams's portraits are now considered iconic art
  • BUT many of his early photographs of landscapes weren't meant to be art
  • They were commissioned as marketing materials

• Who the photos belong to:
  • The sentence is talking about Adams's photographs
  • These are the photographer's (Adams's) early photos
  • We're talking about one photographer (Adams), not multiple photographers

• How many photos:
  • "Many of the photos" - clearly we're talking about multiple photographs
  • We need the plural form of "photo"

What do we notice about what we need?

• For "photographer":
  • We need to show the photos belong to the photographer (possession)
  • It's one photographer (Adams) → singular possessive: photographer's

• For "photos":
  • We're talking about multiple photographs → we need the plural form
  • Plural nouns don't use apostrophes unless they're possessive
  • Just add -s: photos (not photo's)

So we need: photographer's early photos

The correct answer is Choice C.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Apostrophes: Possession vs. Plurality

Apostrophes serve specific purposes, and it's important not to confuse them:

For Possession (showing ownership):
When something belongs to someone or something, use apostrophe + s for singular nouns:

• the photographer's camera = the camera belonging to the photographer
• the artist's studio = the studio belonging to the artist
• In our sentence: "the photographer's early photos" = the early photos belonging to the photographer (Adams)

For Plurals (showing more than one):
When you simply have more than one of something, add -s or -es WITHOUT an apostrophe:

• photos, paintings, sculptures (NOT photo's, painting's, sculpture's)
• cameras, brushes, canvases (NOT camera's, brush's, canvas's)
• In our sentence: "early photos" = multiple photographs (plural, no apostrophe needed)

The Common Error:
Adding apostrophes to make plurals (sometimes called the "greengrocer's apostrophe") is incorrect. Remember:

• Apostrophes show possession or form contractions
• They do NOT make words plural

In this question:
We needed BOTH forms:

• "photographer's" (possessive - the photos belong to him)
• "photos" (plural - multiple photographs)