The National Geographic Society has published its iconic magazine since 1888, documenting global cultures and natural wonders. The organization's phot...

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 National Geographic Society
                               has published its iconic magazine since 1888,
                                              documenting global cultures and natural wonders.

Sentence 2:
• The organization's photography archive
                                        contains millions of images.

Sentence 3:
• (?) collection
            represents one of the most comprehensive visual records
                                                                  of twentieth-century exploration
                                                                     and scientific discovery.

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading from the beginning:

"The National Geographic Society has published its iconic magazine since 1888, documenting global cultures and natural wonders."

• This introduces us to the National Geographic Society - a single organization
• It's been publishing its magazine for a long time

"The organization's photography archive contains millions of images."

• "The organization" refers back to the National Geographic Society
• Now we're learning about their photography archive - a collection of photos
• This archive is a singular thing that contains millions of images

Now here's where we need to fill in the blank: "_____ collection represents..."

Let's look at our choices:

• Their (possessive, but for multiple things)
• It's (means "it is")
• Its (possessive for one thing)
• They're (means "they are")

What do we need here?

• We're talking about the archive's collection - showing possession
• The archive is singular (one archive)
• We need a possessive form that matches singular

So we need: Its - the possessive form for a singular thing (the archive).

Now let's read the rest to see the complete picture:

• "Its collection represents one of the most comprehensive visual records of twentieth-century exploration and scientific discovery."
• This is saying the archive's collection is one of the best visual records of 20th-century exploration

What do we notice?

• The word we're filling in needs to refer back to "the organization's photography archive"
• That archive is singular (it's one archive, even though it contains millions of images)
• We need to show possession (the archive's collection = its collection)
• We need the possessive form without an apostrophe: its

The correct answer is C (Its) because it's the singular possessive form that correctly refers to the archive and shows ownership of the collection.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

Using Possessive Pronouns with Correct Number Agreement

When you use a pronoun to show that something belongs to something else, the pronoun must match whether the owner is singular or plural. Also, be careful not to confuse possessive forms with contractions (called homophones in grammar terms):

For singular owners (one thing):

• Use its (no apostrophe) to show possession
• Example: "The museum opened its doors" (the museum's doors)
• Don't confuse with it's = "it is" or "it has"

For plural owners (multiple things):

• Use their to show possession
• Example: "The museums opened their doors" (the museums' doors)
• Don't confuse with they're = "they are"

In our question:

• "The organization's photography archive" (singular) needs a singular possessive
• We use its to show the collection belongs to the archive
• We avoid their (plural), it's (means "it is"), and they're (means "they are")

Quick test: Can you replace the word with "it is" or "they are"? If no, you need the possessive form without an apostrophe.