The architectural firm employs dozens of skilled designers who work on various projects. Last month, the team completed a major...

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

Sentence 1:

• The architectural firm employs dozens of skilled designers who work on various projects.

Sentence 2:

• Last month,
• the team completed a major urban development plan.

Sentence 3:

• The [?] detailed blueprints were submitted to the city council for approval and received widespread acclaim.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning to build our understanding:

"The architectural firm employs dozens of skilled designers who work on various projects."

• So we're learning about an architectural firm
• It has dozens of skilled designers (that's multiple designers - many of them)
• They work on various projects

"Last month, the team completed a major urban development plan."

• The team (these designers) finished a major project
• This happened last month

Now we reach the blank: "The _____ detailed blueprints were submitted to the city council for approval and received widespread acclaim."

This is where we have the blank. Let's look at the choices to see what we're deciding:

• Choice A: designer's detailed blueprint's
• Choice B: designers detailed blueprint's
• Choice C: designer's detailed blueprints
• Choice D: designers' detailed blueprints

We're deciding:

• Whether we need singular or plural for "designer"
• Whether we need a possessive form (with apostrophe)
• Whether "blueprint" should be singular or plural
• Whether "blueprint" should have an apostrophe

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

"The _____ detailed blueprints were submitted to the city council for approval and received widespread acclaim."

Now let's understand what this is telling us:

• "blueprints were submitted"
  • "blueprints" is the subject - what the sentence is about
  • It's plural (multiple blueprints)
  • The verb "were" confirms this plural form

• The blank needs to tell us WHOSE blueprints these are
  • The blueprints belong to the designers
  • We learned there are "dozens of skilled designers" - that's plural, multiple people

• "detailed" is an adjective describing the blueprints

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We need to show ownership - the blueprints belong to the designers
  • This requires a possessive form with an apostrophe

• Since there are "dozens of designers" (plural), we need the plural possessive form
  • That's "designers'" - with the apostrophe AFTER the s

• "Blueprints" itself is the subject being talked about
  • It should be plural (matching "were")
  • It should NOT have an apostrophe - it's not possessing anything, it's the thing being discussed

So we need: designers' detailed blueprints

The correct answer is Choice D.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Forming Possessives with Apostrophes

When you need to show that something belongs to someone or something, you use possessive forms with apostrophes. The placement of the apostrophe depends on whether the owner is singular or plural:

For singular nouns (one owner):

• Add apostrophe + s: designer's
• Example: "The designer's blueprint was impressive."
  • One designer owns the blueprint

For plural nouns ending in s (multiple owners):

• Add apostrophe AFTER the s: designers'
• Example: "The designers' blueprints were impressive."
  • Multiple designers own the blueprints

Important: The thing being owned should NOT have an apostrophe (unless it also owns something else):

• Correct: "The designers' blueprints were detailed."
  • "designers'" = possessive (showing ownership)
  • "blueprints" = regular plural (the subject)

• Incorrect: "The designers' blueprint's were detailed."
  • "blueprint's" incorrectly suggests the blueprints possess something

In this question:

• Context establishes "dozens of skilled designers" (plural)
• The blueprints belong to these designers
• So we need: designers' (plural possessive) + blueprints (plural subject, non-possessive)