Which of the words in the following sentence is incorrect?

All of the students's backpacks were left on the bus.

Question

Which of the words in the following sentence is incorrect?

All of the students's backpacks were left on the bus.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Starting with option 1, 'backpacks' is the noun that the sentence is describing as being left on the bus; in context, this word fits grammatically as the object of the sentence.
Option 2, 'students's' looks like an attempted possessive form, but English plural possessives do not take an additional 's' after the apostrophe. The correct plural possessive form is 'students'' (with the apostrophe after the s). This makes 'students's' incorrect both in spelling and possessive usage.
Option 3, 'All' functions as a determiner in the sentence ('All of the'), and there is nothing inherently wrong with it in terms of grammar; it is not the word that creates a grammatical error here.
Option 4, 'were' is the past tense plural auxiliary verb agreeing with the plural subject 'All of the students' backpacks' (even though the possessive is off, the intended subject is plural, and 'were' would be the correct agreement). The problem lies specifically with the possessive form, not with the verb.
In summary, the only element that disrupts standard grammar in the sentence is the possessive form 'students's'. The correct possessive for the plural noun 'students' is 'students''; therefore, the error lies in option 2 due to incorrect possessive punctuation and formation.

BWE24E1 - Business Writing Essentials Final Exam

Which of the words in the following sentence is incorrect? All of the students's backpacks were left on the bus.

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