Grammar & punctuation

The correct possessive form of the plural noun 'children' is 'children's', so 'The children's books are new' correctly shows that the books belong to the children. Option A omits the apostrophe, treating 'children' as a simple adjective, while B places the apostrophe after an unnecessary s and D adds an extra s, both producing non‑standard forms that misrepresent possession.

A semicolon links two independent clauses that are closely related, as in 'I went home; the rain had started', showing a logical connection without using a conjunction. Option A suggests the semicolon merely weakens a full stop, but the punctuation actually creates a stronger, not weaker, bond between sentences, which is a frequent misconception.

A semicolon links two independent clauses that are closely related, as in 'I went home; the rain had started', showing a logical connection without using a conjunction. A diagram for this topic isn't available yet — the worked example below walks the same reasoning step by step.

• !Option D is incorrect because the present perfect tense uses 'has' or 'have' rather than 'had' and connects the past to the present.
• !Option A is incorrect because it is a simple sentence containing only a single independent clause with no subordinating elements.

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