What makes the theremin a unique musical instrument? You play it without touching it. When you place your _______ the...

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

• What makes the theremin a unique musical instrument?
• You play it without touching it.
• When you place your [hands? / hand's?] between the two [antennas? / antenna's?],
  • the pitch will shift
    • as your hands move through the air.

Understanding the Meaning

The first two sentences set up the context:

• 'What makes the theremin a unique musical instrument?'
• 'You play it without touching it.'
  • So we're learning about this unusual instrument that you somehow play without physical contact.

Now the third sentence explains how it works:

• 'When you place your ______ the pitch will shift as your hands move through the air.'

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

• A. hand's between the two antenna's,
• B. hands between the two antennas,
• C. hands' between the two antennas',
• D. hands' between the two antennas,

So we're deciding:

• Whether we need "hand" or "hands" (singular vs. plural)
• Whether these words need apostrophes
• Whether we need "antenna" or "antennas" (singular vs. plural)
• Whether these words need apostrophes

To see what works here, let's finish reading the sentence!

The sentence ends with: 'as your hands move through the air.'

Ah! This tells us something important:

• The sentence specifically mentions "your hands" (plural) moving through the air
• So we're talking about both hands, not just one hand
• This means in the blank we need "hands" (plural)

Now let's think about those apostrophes. What do we notice?

When we read the complete sentence with "hands" and "antennas":

• "When you place your hands between the two antennas, the pitch will shift..."

Are "hands" possessing anything? No.

• They're just the things being placed - they're not "the hands' something"
• We're just talking about multiple hands (plural noun)

Are "antennas" possessing anything? No.

• They're just the things between which you place your hands
• We're just talking about multiple antennas (plural noun)

Since neither word is showing ownership or possession, neither needs an apostrophe.

So we need: hands between the two antennas

The correct answer is Choice B.

Grammar Concept Applied

Apostrophes: Showing Possession vs. Making Plurals

Apostrophes have specific jobs in English. One of the most common mistakes is using them incorrectly with plural nouns. Here's the key distinction:

Use apostrophes to show possession (ownership):

• Singular possession: The dog's collar (one dog owns a collar)
• Plural possession: The students' projects (multiple students own projects)
  • Note: apostrophe comes after the "s" for plural possessives

DON'T use apostrophes to make simple plurals:

• WRONG: I saw two dog's in the park
• CORRECT: I saw two dogs in the park
• WRONG: The antenna's picked up the signal
• CORRECT: The antennas picked up the signal

In our theremin question:

• We need simple plurals: "hands" and "antennas"
• Neither word is showing possession
• "When you place your hands between the two antennas" - just multiple hands, multiple antennas
• No apostrophes needed

Additional clue in this question:

The sentence also tests agreement - it refers to "your hands" (plural) at the end, which confirms we need "hands" (plural) in the blank to match.