When beck joined his uncle's oil exploration company in east texas, he was given several hundred shares of stock in the firm, and was officially made a partner. the firm's accountant explained that the company paid taxes the same way as regular partnerships, by passing the profits through to each partner. beck could purchase more shares of the company on a public stock exchange, as long as someone was willing to sell his/her shares. this firm was likely a special form of ownership called a:

Master limited partnership

Explanation:

A master limited partnership also referred to as a MLP, is known as a limited partnership which is publicly traded on an exchange. A Master Limited Partnership tends to combine the tax benefits or advantages from a limited partnership with its liquidity that are the publicly traded securities such as stocks and bonds offer.  A MLP tends to pays taxes like every other partnerships, thus by passing profits through to individual, and also accounting for these profits on owner's tax return.