Apostrophe " 'S "

mmslf75 wrote:Recent findings lend strong support to the theory that a
black hole lies at the center of the Milky Way and of many
of the 100 billion other galaxies estimated to exist in the
universe.

A. that a black hole lies at the center of the Milky Way
and of
B. that a black hole lies at the Milky Way’s center and
C. that there is a black hole lying at the Milky Way’s
center an
D. of a black hole lying at the Milky Way’s center and
E. of a black hole that lies at the center of the Milky Way
and of

OA is A

I know why answer is A
However, would anyone to explain me the usage of " ' s "
Is it that since the MILKY WAY is not a living entity we should avoid using " 's " ??

In general, is there a rule that, only living things can take " ' s " ????

mmslf75 wrote:Recent findings lend strong support to the theory that a
black hole lies at the center of the Milky Way and of many
of the 100 billion other galaxies estimated to exist in the
universe.

A. that a black hole lies at the center of the Milky Way
and of
B. that a black hole lies at the Milky Way’s center and
C. that there is a black hole lying at the Milky Way’s
center an
D. of a black hole lying at the Milky Way’s center and
E. of a black hole that lies at the center of the Milky Way
and of

OA is A

I know why answer is A
However, would anyone to explain me the usage of " ' s "
Is it that since the MILKY WAY is not a living entity we should avoid using " 's " ??

In general, is there a rule that, only living things can take " ' s " ????

Testluv wrote:

mmslf75 wrote:Recent findings lend strong support to the theory that a
black hole lies at the center of the Milky Way and of many
of the 100 billion other galaxies estimated to exist in the
universe.

A. that a black hole lies at the center of the Milky Way
and of
B. that a black hole lies at the Milky Way’s center and
C. that there is a black hole lying at the Milky Way’s
center an
D. of a black hole lying at the Milky Way’s center and
E. of a black hole that lies at the center of the Milky Way
and of

OA is A

I know why answer is A
However, would anyone to explain me the usage of " ' s "
Is it that since the MILKY WAY is not a living entity we should avoid using " 's " ??

In general, is there a rule that, only living things can take " ' s " ????

Definitely not:

The car's windows are tinted.

The computer's memory is large.

The GMAT's design is predictable.

But, in the question's sentence (wasn't that kind of awkard), we need the first "of" to be parallel to the second "of". Also, from the preceding sentence I wrote, you can see that it may well be styilstically odd to use apostrophe s for non-living entities; again, this does not mean that it is grammatically incorrect.

brick2009 wrote:something is not right with A:..

i thought it should be paralle...and went for E .. even though it was tad ackward...

...theory of X and (theory ) of Y...


answer choice A totally beats me ..


Now coming to the question of 's...be careful when to use the possessive forms of nouns.

Testluv wrote: Actually, the sentence with the OA would be:

Recent findings lend strong support to the theory that a black hole lies at the center of the Miky Way and [the centers of] many of the...other galaxies....

chrispy wrote:I don't think the problem lies in the " 'S," but more in the comparison. The correct answer states that a black hole lies at the center OF the Milky Way and OF many of the...other galaxies. In this structure, it is then understood that you're talking about the "center" in both "the Milky way" and also "many of the...galaxies."

Once you throw in the " 'S," you're only talking about the Milky Way's center and referring just to the other galaxies in general, NOT their centers. You would be saying that black holes lie at many of the 100 billion other galaxies, but not that they're in the center of them.

Hope that helps.