apostrophe rules - Sheet1 Flashcards
Apostrophes function in two ways. What are they?
Contractions and possessives
In most cases you use apostrophes to show possession by…
Adding ‘S.
Examples: The dog’s collar. The woman’s water bottle.
When a singular nound ends in S, and you want to make it plural, how should you do that?
the s in the typical ‘s is omitted. Charles’ water bottle
To show the possessive of any plural noun not ending in S you would use…
‘S
Apostrophe s
To show the possessive form of a plural noun endin in S, you would….
Just add the apostrophe. The bosses’ offices.
The horses’ shoes.
What are the three steps in the proccess of forming possessives.Use this sentence: Several parents children are graduating high school today.
- look for possessive construction.(Several parents children) 2. Reverse the nouns. (Chldren of the parents) 3. Examine the ownership word. (parents) When the ownership word ends in S and is plural , add only an apostrophe
How do you punctuate when two people share possession of the same item?
Use both names in the sentence but only put the ‘s on the last name in the sentence. Are these Ethan and Tom’s toys?
How do you punctuate when two people own seperate items?
The ‘S goes behind each name of the possessors. Your mom’s and dad’s shoes are on the floor.
What should you do when pluralizing hyphenated nouns.
Make the main noun plural, then hyphenate. Mother-in-law becomes Mothers- in-law. Editor-in-chief becomes Editors-in-chief. man-of-war becomes men-of -war. runner-up becomes runners-up.
What should you do when making hyphenated words possessive?
Add the ‘S to the last word in the hyphenated word. Sister-in-law’s car, Comander-in-Chief’s car. maid-of-honor’s.
How do you show a plural possessive hypenated word?
Use the plural form of the main noun and add the possessive case. All of the sisters-in-law’s cars are in the parking lot. The attorneys-at -law’s were all in an important meeting.
Common apostrophe mistakes
Do not use an apostrophe to form the plural of regular nouns. just add s to show plurals. Apples not Apple’s. Possessive pronouns do not have ‘s. its, his, hers, theirs, and whose. These pronouns already show possession.
