Which of the following contains an error in apostrophe usage? What did you do with the houseplant's I bought yesterday? It was obvious that there weren't any donuts left from the meeting. It's a good time to reassess our strengths and weaknesses as a company. The janitors' brooms need to be replaced as soon as possible.

The first sentence. "What did you do with the houseplants I bought yesterday?" The apostrophe isn't needed for "houseplants", as it only represents the plurality of the houseplants.

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agustinarivas agustinarivas · Answer 2 · 2019-07-24T21:00:40+02:00

Answer: The sentence that contains an error in apostrophe usage is the first one: "What did you do with the houseplant's I bought yesterday?"

Explanation: The sentence "What did you do with the houseplant's I bought yesterday?" contains an error in apostrophe usage because there should not be an apostrophe in "houseplants". The final "s" in "houseplants" is only signaling the plural form of the word and not possession as in the genitive case; therefore, the apostrophe must be eliminated. On the other hand, the use of apostrophe in the other sentences is correct. In the second and third sentences, it has been used to indicate a contraction, while in the last sentence it has been used to show possession.