Question

[1] Among America's best-known and rarest endangered species

is the whooping crane. [2] A group called Operation Migration is
working to save these beautiful birds. [3] The organization's goal is
to help the cranes find new breeding grounds. [4] Their pilots' planes
have actually led cranes to new breeding grounds in Florida and
Louisiana. [5] In new breeding grounds, the cranes' will be protected
against diseases and other dangers.
Which sentence has a possessive error that needs to be changed?
A. sentence 1
B. sentence 3
C. sentence 4
D. sentence 5

Answer 1

Sentence 5 contains the possessive error that needs to be fixed by removing the possessive apostrophe from 'cranes'. The workers at Operation Migration wear special costumes to ensure proper imprinting of whooping crane chicks on their species, which is critical to their survival.

Step-by-step explanation:

The sentence with a possessive error that needs to be changed is sentence 5. The sentence incorrectly uses the possessive form 'cranes' when it should be the plural noun form 'cranes'. The correct sentence should read: 'In new breeding grounds, the cranes will be protected against diseases and other dangers.' This corrects the possessive error and clarifies that the statement is about multiple cranes, rather than something belonging to a single crane.

Whooping crane chicks undergo a process called imprinting, where they bond with the first few objects they see, mistaking them for their parents. It is crucial that the workers at Operation Migration wearing special costumes resemble adult whooping cranes to prevent the chicks from imprinting on humans, which could disrupt their natural behavior and hinder their survival in the wild. Therefore, workers must take great care to avoid being identified as humans by the chicks.