How to Use Apostrophes - EnglishClass101

Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody! My name is Alisha. In this lesson, we’re going to look at how to use apostrophes.

Let’s get started!

Okay, in this lesson, I want to talk about two basic uses of the apostrophe. The things I’m going to talk about in this lesson will cover most basic uses of the apostrophe. There are two categories of use. We’re going to look at showing possession and we’re going to look at contractions (to show the missing letters and words).

Let’s start by showing possession with apostrophes. So, to show possession with an apostrophe, you can use “‘s” after a noun. So this expresses that something belongs to the noun.

So, let’s look at some very basic examples of this.

First - “My teacher’s pen.”

In this example, we have “my teacher” as the noun that we have to show possession for. We have the apostrophe here and then it’s followed by “s.” Next is pen. This shows that the pen is owned by my teacher. We can use “‘s” to demonstrate this.

Let’s look at the next example:

“His sister’s car.”

In this sentence, “sister” is the person owning something or rather his sister. So, again, “‘s” shows the ownership in this situation. The car is owned by his sister.

Let’s look at the last basic example.

It’s “My father’s wallet.”

“My father’s wallet.”

Again, we have “‘s” after the owner of the object. So here, my father is the owner of the wallet.

So, we can use “‘s” to show ownership in this way, but there are some very important rules to keep in mind to make sure tha you always express this ownership clearly and correctly.

So, let’s take a look at two key rules for you to follow.

Okay, first, no.1 - If it’s a singular noun, so this means if you want to show the possession of something that is a singular noun, that means just one thing or just one person, add “‘s” to make it plural, okay?

This is true even if the singular ends in “s.” So this part right here is sometimes confusing even for native speakers. You learn sometimes I shouldn’t put another “s” after the noun. When I should I do that? I don’t know. So this is the rule. So, if it’s a singular noun, add “‘s” to make it plural.

So let’s look at some examples of this.

First - “The business’s plan.”

“The business’s plan.”

In this situation, “business” is our noun. We want to express something that is owned by the business, so “business” ends with an “s,” but it’s a singular noun, one business, right? You still have to add “‘s” to make it plural. I’m sorry, we still have to add “‘s” to show ownership. This is singular noun. We’re not making it plural here. “The business’s plan.” So this shows the plan owned by the business.

Okay, let’s look at another example of this:

“His bus’s schedule.”

So again, “bus” is a singular noun that ends with “s,” we still have to follow this rule. We add “‘s” after the bus to show ownership. So, this schedule belongs to the bus or his bus in this case. So, it’s some kind of connection we’re showing here.

Here is one more example of this “s” rule.

“Her dress’s color.”

So again, “dress” is our singular noun. It ends in “s,” we still have to put “‘s” to show ownership. So in this case, the dress doesn’t actually own the color, of course, but the color is a quality that belongs to the dress. So, even if your singular noun ends in “s,” you need to put an “‘s” after it to show possession, to show ownership.

We saw the same thing up here. So, these singular nouns do not end in “s,” but they have to follow the same rule.

So, this one is an easy one, right? If you’re just talking about one of something, one noun, just put “‘s” after it to show ownership.

Okay, great! So, let’s continue on to rule no.2. Rule no.2 is a little bit trickier than rule no.1, so let’s take a look. Okay, for rule no.2, if it’s a plural noun, so plural means more than one of something, if it’s a plural noun, use an apostrophe after the “s.” That means no additional “s” after it, unless the plural noun does not end in “s.” So this is kind of tricky. Let’s break down what this means.

So, plural nouns, generally, when we create a plural noun, we simply add “s” to the end of the noun to make it plural, right? Like teacher becomes teachers, right? Or sister becomes sisters or father becomes fathers, right? More than one of something, we add an “s” to the end of it. So, if it’s a plural noun that follows this rule, just add an apostrophe after the “s.” You don’t need to add apostrophe + “s.” Just one apostrophe and it’s good, it’s done, it’s finish, it’s good. Unless… however, there is an exception, unless the plural noun doesn’t end in “s.”

So, there are some plural nouns that don’t end in “s,” right? They’re special nouns, right? So, we’ll see an example of this here. So, let’s take a look at these kinds of examples that we have and break down what’s happening.

So, first one “My parents’ house.”

“My parents’ house.”

So in this example, “my parents” is the noun. This is the plural noun, two people, parents, right? And we have an apostrophe after the “s.” In this situation, there’s no extra “s” after this because it follows this rule. So the plural noun, “parents” in this case, just gets an apostrophe here like this, okay? So, “My parents’ house.” This shows the house that belongs to my parents, okay?

Let’s look at the next example. The next example:

“Our children’s grades.”

So, this is an example of the exception here. So, “children” is an example of a plural noun that does not end in “s,” right? We have one child, two children, right? So, this is a plural noun that does not end in “s.” In this situation, we need to use “‘s,” just as we did with rule no.1, right? So, in this situation, when you have a plural noun that doesn’t end in “s,” make sure to add that “‘s.” So if you want to talk about other things like mice, for example, so the mice’s (somethig), we need to add that “‘s.”

So, this is a good one to keep in mind when you’re writing a sentence that uses those plural nouns that are kind of irregular, okay?

Let’s go to the last example:

“The students’ party.”

So here, again, we have a regular plural noun. It’s just student + “s,” right, students. We again put the apostrophe after “students.” No additional “s” because it follows the basic rule right here. So, no exception in this case.

So, keep this one in mind. This one requires a little bit more thought. Just consider that “s” at the end, plural noun or singular noun. Those are kind of the two things that’s important to keep in mind with this.

Okay. So, this is what I want to talk about for showing possession, using apostrophes to show possession.

Let’s go now to part 2. So, the other part of today’s lesson is using apostrophes to show contractions. So a contraction is the short form or the reduced form of two words, generally. So, we use apostrophes to show or to kind of represent missing letters. That’s one way that you can think of the apostrophe used here.

So, apostrophes can be used to show the missing letters and words. So what does this mean? Let’s take a look at some examples.

For example, when we write “do not” in the reduced form or the contracted form, we use this spelling, right, “don’t” D-O-N’-T. So you can think of this apostrophe as kind of a replacement for the letter that’s missing, right? So, we have “do not,” O is missing here. It’s kind of like we’re showing the O is gone with the apostrophe, so “don’t.”

Here is another example, “we are.” We are becomes “we’re,” right? So, again, we have a letter missing. In this case, it’s the A. We are becomes “we’re.” So, the apostrophe shows where that letter used to be.

One more example, I am, this becomes “I’m.” Again, we have a missing letter. The A used to be right here. We have an apostrophe there instead.

So, apostrophes can be used in this way to show that letters are missing form a word. So, these are extremely, extremely common, You probably know about this already, but I also wanna talk about another use that’s typically done in books and other stories, those kinds of things.

Sometimes, this apostrophe, this missing letter apostrophe is used at the end of a word or sometimes even in the middle, it’s a little bit rare. Usually, this is at the end of a word, but sometimes, you’ll see an apostrophe at the end of a word to express a way of speaking. So this kind fo sentence tends to sound a little more casual or sometimes, this is used to indicate like a character’s certain way of speaking.

So, let’s look at some examples, so you can see what I mean here.

Here is one - “I’m thinkin’ about what to make for dinner.”

“I’m thinkin’ about what to make for dinner.”

So, first, we have this contracted form, right, the apostrophe here. And then we have this, “thinkin’,” thinkin’. Here the apostrophe is at the end of the word. So, we tend to see this used a lot in -ing verbs actually, verbs that end in -ing to show that the G sound it not clearly pronounced.

So, “I’m thinkin’ about what to make for dinner.”

So this “thinkin’” is a little bit different from “thinking,” right?

“I’m thinking about what to make for dinner” would be the standard way to say this, right? But this “thinkin’” sounds a little bit more casual. People may choose to use this kind of “thinkin’” to express a certain kind of casual level of speaking or to express a kind of accent, something like that. So that’s what this apostrophe at the end of an -ing verb means. It means that G sound is missing.

Let’s look at another example.

“We’ve been walkin’ for hours!”

So, here, again, we have this basic contraction (we have). “We’ve been walkin’ for hours.” So again, there’s this apostrophe at the end of this -ing word, right, and the G is missing, so the apostrophe is showing us something is missing and we’ve cut the word off early. So, walking becomes “walkin’,” walkin’.

“Weve been walkin’ for hours!”

So, this expresses a kind of rough or casual manner of speaking.

One more:

“You’re workin’ hard!”

You might hear people say this to you at work, like your co-worker might make this comment to you - “You’re workin’ hard!” Again, we have a basic contraction here, “you’re” (you are), right? And here, “workin’.” So, the standard spelling is “working” with a G at the end. We have this apostrophe here that shows something is missing. “You’re workin’ hard.” So this sounds kind of more casual, a little more friendly than “You’re working hard,” okay.

So that’s what you might see occasionally. Usually, we see this in text like stories and maybe novels, maybe short stories or essays, that kind of thing, but oftentimes, people like to speak this way and sometimes, they want to text that way as well too. So, if you see this in like a text message or something, that’s what this apostrophe at the end of the word means.

And as I said, you might see it in the middle, I suppose, in certain places. You might even see it at the very beginning of the word, but that’s an indicator, that’s a sign that someone has cut off, usually, like a letter or something like that, a very small sound and they’re showing that with the apostrophe.

Okay, great! So those are the two keypoints that I want to talk about for this lesson. We use apostrophes to show possession and we use apostrophes for contractions, to show missing letters.

I want to finish this lesson by covering a very common couple of questions, some very common errors, some problem points for learners and for native speakers. This question box right here shows them. They’re the differences between “it’s” (with an apostrophe), its (with no apostrophe) and “who’s” (with an ‘s) and whose, -H-O-S-E at the end here. What is the difference?

So, let’s talk about it’s and its first.

I-T (‘s) means “it is,” it is.

I-T (no apostrophe S) is the possessive.

So, this is an exception to what I talked over here. Of course, that’s like kind of hard for you to remember, I know, but thankfully, it’s just this one. There’s only one that you need to remember, this exception for it.

So, its (with no apostrophe) is the possessive form.

“It is” is this “it (with an apostrophe S) at the end.

So, it’s one tricky one to remember, okay?

Then the second one, this who’s - whose question.

So, H- I’m sorry, W-H-O (‘s) means “who is,” who is.

W-H-O-S-E is the possessive, so “Whose bag is this,” right? We’re asking about someone’s possession. Whose bag is this? Whose marker is this? We use this W-H-O-S-E word to do that.

Who’s (with an ‘s) means “who is,” like “Who’s he talking to,” right? That’s not a question of possession. So these words sound exactly the same when we are speaking, right, but it’s important to remember that they are very different on paper. So keep these small differences in mind because they do matter.

Okay, great! So, this is a quick introduction to how to use apostrophes. This is a very basic introduction to this very important punctuation mark, but these rules will help you in the majority of situations, so keep this in mind.

Of course, if you have any questions or comments or if you want to practice making some apostrophe words, feel free to do so in the comment section fo this video.

Thanks very much for watching this video and I will see you again next time. Bye!

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