Lesson 6: Apostrophes

Welcome to another great day of grammar! Today we are going to study apostrophes. I will teach you the different ways that apostrophes are used and how to know which one to use when. Ready? Here we go.

Apostrophe use #1: Contraction
Basically, the apostrophe stands in for the letters being left out in the word. the apostrophe in don't stands for the deleted o in do not.

Apostrophe use #2: Possessive
Now this use is a little more complicated. People often get confused on whether the apostrophe goes before or after the s.

If the noun you are making possessive doesn't end in an s, the apostrophe goes before the s. For example if you are making class possessive, you add 's to it: class's.

If the noun you are making possessive does end in an s, the apostrophe goes after the s. For example, if you are making classes possessive, you add only the ' to the end of it: classes'.

With proper and compound nouns, you simply add the 's to the word: Jones's, Mary's, brother-in-law's.

If you want the possession to apply to two or more nouns, add the 's to the last noun: Mary and Jones's homework. If you want to possession to apply to only each of the nouns separately, add the 's to each of the nouns: Mary's and Jones's homework.

Well, that's the simply run-down on apostrophes! Hopefully now you will be more confident when you have to use apostrophes in your writing. See you next time!