Explanation

 

10/2/25

 

Throwing everything you own into your beat-up van and heading to California is a familiar path many aspiring musicians and actors follow as they head out West to chase their dreams. Although the odds are stacked quite heavily against them, opportunities are there for the taking. Such is the case for Richard Gibbs, a dreamer turned rock star and blockbuster film composer whose had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

 

A. NO CHANGE
B. who’s had a knack for being
C. who’s had a knack to be
D. whose knack for being

 

Who’s = who is/has; whose = possessive of who. The possessive form must be followed by a noun, but the underlined word is followed by had, which is a verb. As a result, (A) and (D) can be eliminated. In (C), knack is followed by “to be” instead of by the idiomatically correct “for + -ing word” or “for + noun”. (B) is correct because it supplies the appropriate form of who and is idiomatically correct.

 


 

10/1/25

 

People are divided about whether hedgehogs should be kept as pets. Wild animals should stay wild, one argument goes. On the other hand, cats and dogs were wild once, and domestication has to start somewhere. At first, a hedgehog may feel threatened and extend they’re quills when handled by humans, but eventually most hedgehogs come to enjoy being petted and cuddled.

 

A. NO CHANGE
B. their
C. its
D. it’s

 

Start by identifying the noun to which the underlined pronoun most refers — what feels threatened and extends its quills? The most logical referent is a hedgehog, singular. They’re and their are both forms of they, plural, so (A) and (B) can be eliminated. (D) can also be eliminated because it’s = it is, and it does not make sense to say a hedgehog may feel threatened and extend it is quills. Its is the possessive form, making (C) correct. Its quills = the quills of a hedgehog.

 


 

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