Apostrophe For Teachers"Good morning." "Nice to see you're awake." "What is you're short for in you're awake?" "It's short for you are. Which letter of you are is left out when it's shortened to you're?" "The A. And how do we indicate a letter, the A, has been left out?" "With an apostrophe, a little vertical dash. But do we write you space apostrophe R E?" [you 're] "How many words is you are?" "Two. And how many words is you're?" "One. You're is written as a single word: you apostrophe R E with no spaces." "Let's make sure we've got that: what does the word you're - you apostrophe R E - mean?" "You're - you apostrophe R E - means you are. The apostrophe shows a letter has been missed out when the two words you and are are squashed together to make you're." "What other words have an apostrophe that shows a letter has been left out when two words have become one word?" "Wouldn't is a good example. What is wouldn't short for?" "Wouldn't is short for would not. Which letter has been left out when would and not are joined to make wouldn't?" "If you said an O you'd be quite correct." "But how about you'd? What's that short for?" "You had or you would. What letters are replaced by the apostrophe when the two words you and would are contracted into the one word you'd?" "When you and would are shortened - contracted - to become wouldn't, the letters W O U L are omitted. So sometimes the apostrophe means several letters have been left out." "What about will not, what does that shorten to? What's another, shorter, way of saying will not? "You'd think will not should shorten to willn't, but it doesn't, it shortens to won't, W O N apostrophe T. Why does will not shorten to won't?" "It's a tricky one, isn't it? And it's a long story, but a long time ago will was sometimes written as woll. As English evolved will became the standard spelling, but won't, short for woll not, became the standard abbreviation for will not. Why? Probably because won't just sounds a lot nicer than willn't. [Why Won't Willn't Work.] "OK. It's ten o'clock. What is it's short for in: it's ten o'clock?" "It's ten o'clock means it is ten o'clock - ten of the clock. It is is shortened to it's, I T apostrophe S, by leaving out what...?" "It is becomes it's by leaving out an I and making the two words it is into one word it's. So how do we write it's meaning it is?" "It apostrophe S. It apostrophe S means...? It is. Or? It's could mean it has: it's been a nice day." "So, we've seen that the apostrophe is used to indicate that a letter or letters have been missed out,
often when two words are shortened to one word.
For example, we have is contracted to we've, will not is shortened to won't, you are becomes you're - Y O U apostrophe R E - and so on."
"However, there is a second and quite different use for the apostrophe. Does anyone know what it is?" "Hold up your pens." "That is Lucy's pen. How do we spell Lucy's?" "The rule is quite simple. You write the person it belongs to, Lucy, then add apostrophe S to show the pen belongs to Lucy. So we get Lucy apostrophe S to show it's Lucy's pen." "How would you write: the table's leg? How would you spell table's?" "Write down the thing the leg belongs to, the table, then add apostrophe S. That gives us T A B L E apostrophe S. The table's leg." "Let's try one more. [Hold up pen]. What's this? Teacher's pen. How do we write that, how do we write teacher's pen?" "The pen belongs to...?" "Teacher. So we write teacher followed by...?" "We write teacher followed by apostrophe S to show that the pen belongs to teacher. Teacher's pen - teacher apostrophe S - means the pen belongs to - is possessed by - teacher." "My dog's kennel. How do we write dog's?" "The kennel belongs to the dog so we write dog followed by...?" "Dog followed by apostrophe S indicates it's the dog's kennel." "But suppose I have three dogs who all live in the kennel. Who does the kennel now belong to?" "The kennel belongs to the three dogs. So if we follow the rule that says write down who the kennel belongs to - the dogs - then add apostrophe S, what do we get?" "We get the dogs's, D O G S apostrophe S, ("dogses") kennel. But do we say "dogses" kennel?" "No, we say dogs' kennel. So we write it as it is spoken. We write D O G S apostrophe [dogs'] rather than D O G S apostrophe S [dogs's]." "So if you see written: dogs' - that's D O G S apostrophe - kennel, what does that tell you about how many dogs live in the kennel?" "D O G S apostrophe [dogs'] kennel means more than one dog lives in the kennel." "Remember the rule. Write down who the kennel belongs to, dog or dogs, and then add on the apostrophe." "D O G apostrophe S means the kennel belongs to one dog, D O G S apostrophe means the kennel belongs to two or more dogs." "Remember the rule: write down who the thing belongs to then add on the apostrophe." "Mr Jones's van. How would you write that?" "Well, write down who the van belongs to - Mr Jones - and then add apostrophe S." "So we get Mr Jones's van. But do we usually say Mr Jones' van or Mr Jones's ("Jonses") - van?" "We can say either, can't we? We can either say Mr Jones' van or Mr Jones's ("Jonses") van. So when we are writing it we can write it either way: Jones apostrophe van or Jones apostrophe S van." "But whichever way we write it, what rule have we followed?" "We have written down who the van belongs to - Mr Jones - followed by an apostrophe." "The teachers' common room - T E A C H E R S apostrophe - how many teachers use the common room?" "T E A C H E R S apostrophe tells us several teachers use the common room. If it's the teacher's common room - T E A C H E R apostrophe S common room - how big is the school? "Very small! Only one teacher."
"Now, what is the exception to this rule that we add apostrophe S to show something belongs to something?" "One of the reasons English is such fun is there are always exceptions to the rules. What about: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs? They indicate possession - yours means belongs to you - but do any of these words have an apostrophe?" "They don't. These so-called possessive adjectives, my, your, his, her, its, our, their, and possessive pronouns, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs, are exceptions to the rule. They don't have an apostrophe." "The pen is Lucy's - we spell Lucy's...? L U C Y apostrophe S." "But, the pen is yours - how do we spell yours?" "In the pen is yours, yours Y O U R S does not have an apostrophe." "If we're talking about the table's leg and we say: its leg, how do we spell the its in its leg?" "We spell it I T S - no apostrophe." "Its without an apostrophe means: belongs to it. And it's with an apostrophe - I T apostrophe S - means...? It is. Two different words with totally different meanings." "Possessive adjectives, my, your, his, her, its, our, their,
and possessive pronouns, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs, don't have apostrophes."
"Let's remind ourselves what we have covered so far. What are the two uses of the apostrophe?" "First: to shows a letter or letters have been left out. For example have not becomes haven't, H A V E N apostrophe T, I am becomes I'm, I apostrophe M." "And the second use of the apostrophe?" "The second use of the apostrophe is to show something belongs to something. The dog's kennel, the table's leg and so on." "But the exception to the rule that we add apostrophe S to show something belongs to something is...?" "His, hers, its, ours, yours Y O U R S and theirs T H E I R S. There are no apostrophes in these words."
"Finally, what about banana's - B A N A N A apostrophe S. What does that mean?" "It means something belonging to a banana. So on its own, just writing banana's - B A N A N A apostrophe S - doesn't mean much, does it? We'd have to write banana's skin or something like that." "So let's think about plurals for a moment. What is the plural of girl?" "The plural of girl is girls. To make the plural of girl we add an S to give girls. No apostrophe. The plural of car is...?" "The plural of car is cars. No apostrophe." "So if we have many bananas, a whole bunch of bananas, how do we write bananas?" "B A N A N A S. No apostrophe. Now please listen very carefully. Never put an apostrophe in when you're adding an S to make a plural. Putting an apostrophe in plurals is wrong, but it is a very common mistake which you will see everywhere. Why do people so often make this mistake?" "Because, unlike you, they were probably never taught the correct way to use apostrophes.
You use an apostrophe to show letters have been left out, shouldn't, won't, hasn't and so on,
or to show something belongs to something,
the dog's kennel, Rashid's pen, the rabbit's breakfast.
You never use it when adding an S to make a plural:
the plural of DVD is DVDs - no apostrophe; the plural of breakfast is breakfasts - no apostrophe;
the plural of tea is teas - no apostrophe; the plural of coffee is coffees - no apostrophe."
"Now the test." What do these mean:
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