Question

language development: conventions
identify the choice that best answers the question

read the following sentence
mike wanted mike’s mother to help samantha and her friend prepare for the talent show

choose the sentence that correctly replaces a noun in this sentence with a possessive pronoun without changing the original meaning

a. he wanted mike’s mother to help samantha and her friend prepare for the talent show
b. mike wanted his mother to help samantha and her friend prepare for the talent show
c. mike wanted mike’s mother to help samantha and samantha’s friend prepare for the talent show
d. mike wanted mike’s mother to help samantha and her friend prepare for it

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option:

• Option A: Replaces "Mike" with "He", but "He" is a subject pronoun, not possessive, and the original sentence has "Mike's mother" which needs a possessive pronoun for "Mike" in relation to "mother". So A is incorrect.
• Option B: Replaces "Mike's" (possessive noun) with "his" (possessive pronoun). "His" correctly shows that the mother belongs to Mike, and the meaning of the sentence remains the same.
• Option C: Replaces "her" (possessive pronoun for Samantha's friend) with "Samantha's" (possessive noun), which is the reverse of what's needed (we need to replace a noun with a possessive pronoun, not a pronoun with a noun). So C is incorrect.
• Option D: The phrase "prepare for it" changes the original meaning (original is "prepare for the talent show"), so D is incorrect.

Answer:

B. Mike wanted his mother to help Samantha and her friend prepare for the talent show