© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE Objective: I can form singular and plural...

© Capital Community College

THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE

Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe.



The apostrophe has only a handful of uses, but these uses are very important. A misplaced apostrophe can be annoying — not to mention lonely.

1. to create possessives

2. to omit letters

3. to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters

The apostrophe is used:



The apostrophe is used to create possessive forms for singular and plural nouns.

Forming Possessives of Nouns

To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:

the boy's hat = the hat of the boy three days' journey = journey of three days



The apostrophe is used to create possessive forms for singular and plural nouns.

If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed!

room of the hotel = hotel room door of the car = car door leg of the table = table leg



Add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):

• the owner's car • James's hat (James' hat is also acceptable.



Add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:

• the children's game • the geese's honking

Add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:

• two cats' toys• three friends' letters• the countries' laws


Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe.To form the possessive of a plural noun, we pluralize first and then add the apostrophe.

The Kennedys’ house

The children’s playhouse

The travelers’ expectations

Notice that with an irregular plural, the apostrophe will come before the “s.”



Add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:

• Todd and Anne's apartment


Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe.A contraction allows us to blend sounds by omitting letters from a verb construction. The apostrophe shows where something is left out.

I am a student here = I’m a student here.

I have been working on the railroad. = I’ve been working on the railroad.

They could have been great together. = They

could’ve been great together.



Forming plurals of lowercase letters

Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them).



Forming plurals of lowercase letters

Here are some examples:

• p's and q's = midning your p's and q's is a phrase• three Macintosh G4s = three of the Macintosh model G4• many &s = many ampersands• the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969


THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE

The mighty apostrophe doesn’t mind being used, but it wants to be used wisely.

Use it well and it will be there whenever you need it!


1. Both of the (girl’s/girls’) makeup bags were stolen from the locker room at the gym.

2. Even though Jeff and Doug are big sports fans of most (men’s/mens’) sports, this was their first trip to a (women’s/ womens’) professional basketball game.

3. (Mavis’/Mavis’s) first name was unusual, but one girl from each generation has always had that name for as far back as her family can trace its history.

4. The (birds’/birds) squawks were probably audible within a five-mile radius because up-close they were tremendously loud.

Which is correct?

© Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE Objective: I can form singular and plural...

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