Identify the grammatical error in the sentence below.
The people here have nothing. Their poverty's extreme.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Correct Answer: poverty's
Explanation:
• In formal and standard written English, contractions combining a noun and the verb 'is' (such as poverty's for poverty is) are grammatically inappropriate.
• An apostrophe followed by 's' primarily indicates possession, which makes no sense before the predicative adjective extreme.
• The verb should be written in full: poverty is.
• Correct sentence: The people here have nothing. Their poverty is extreme.