Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Riley.

I'm here today to do some grammar learning with you.

Thank you so much for joining me.

In today's lesson, we are going to be looking at a piece of punctuation, called apostrophes, and we're going to be looking at the two different ways we can use them.

Let's get started.

The outcome of today's lesson is to show how an apostrophe works for contraction and for singular possession.

In our lesson today, we have got some key words that we will be using.

It's really important that we practise saying these words.

So, can you make sure your hit listening ears are turned on and you've got your loud speaking voices ready, because we're going to do my turn, your turn.

Are you ready? Apostrophe for contraction.

Well done.

Apostrophe for possession.

Excellent.

And finally, word class.

Brilliant.

So, don't worry if you are a bit unsure, about what these mean at this stage, because we are going to talk about these words a lot in our lesson today.

So, in today's lesson, we're going to start off by looking at apostrophes for contractions, which is one of the ways we can use an apostrophe.

So, here are some different punctuation marks.

Each punctuation mark has a different purpose.

Can you name these punctuation marks? There's four different types.

Pause the video and see if you can name any of these punctuation marks.

Well done for having a go.

The first one is, you might have thought it was a comma, but because it's higher up than a comma, it is an apostrophe and that's what we're learning about today.

The second one, the line and a dot is an exclamation mark, which is used to show strong emotion.

And then we've got a full stop, which is used to show the end of a sentence.

And finally, a question mark is used at the end of a sentence to show a question.

So, let's check what we've just learned.

Can you match the punctuation mark to its purpose? The options are used at the end of a sentence, such as a fact, used to show contraction or possession, used at the end of a sentence, expressing strong emotion or used at the end of a sentence asking a question.

Pause the video, while you see if you can match the punctuation mark to its purpose.

Well done.

Let's go through the answers.

So first of all, we had an exclamation mark used at the end of a sentence, expressing strong emotion such as I am so excited.

Next, we had a full stop, used at the end of a sentence such as a fact.

For example, tomorrow it is going to rain.

A question mark is used at the end of a sentence, asking a question such as, what will the weather be like tomorrow? And finally, an apostrophe is used to show contraction or possession and that's what we're going to be focusing on today.

So, apostrophes for contraction are particularly useful for informal speaking and writing.

Formal means that you are very smart and might be very concerned with having good manners.

If you are going to give a speech in front of a lot of people, perhaps in an assembly, you might use formal language.

You might even be dressed in a formal manner.

If you are informal, if we add the prefix in to make it informal, you are much more relaxed.

It's much more conversational.

You might speak with your friends in an informal way.

You are not trying to sound like you have perfect manners or you're not trying to sound very sensible or smart.

You are just speaking informally.

And that is when contractions are really useful.

The word contract means we push two words together to make one short word.

Sometimes we use this symbol of clapping, because it's like we've got our two words and we push them together, we clap to contract.

For example, she is my best friend.

She is are two words that could be pushed together to become she's.

She's my best friend.

It's much quicker and easier to say she's, than to say she is.

And that's why it's a bit informal.

It's a bit, it's almost like we're being a bit lazy.

We can't be bothered to say she is.

So, we're saying a shortened version.

She's my best friend.

Here's another example, I cannot find my bag becomes, I can't find my bag, can't is easier to say than cannot.

And you can see in that example actually cannot is one word, but it's been shortened to can't.

An apostrophe is always placed at the same height as the ascender of a letter.

The ascender is the tall bit that comes up.

For example, in the word can't, T is an ascending letter.

It comes up higher.

And so we put the apostrophe at the same height as the tall part of the letter T.

Let's see what happens when we form a contraction.

She is becomes she's.

We are becomes we're.

Do not, becomes don't.

Two words have been pushed together to make one shorter word.

I like to imagine that you have two words and you push them together and the pressure means that pop, a little contraction floats up.

Can you see where the apostrophe is in the word she's? Perhaps you could point it and where's the apostrophe in the word we're.

Well done.

And finally, can you point at the apostrophe in the word don't.

Well done.

So, an apostrophe usually takes the place of the letters that have been removed from the start of the second word.

So, let's look at that in more detail.

In she is, what's the second word? That's right.

It's is.

She is the first word, is, is the second word.

So, it's usually takes the place, the letters that have been removed from the start of the second word.

So, is is the second word and the start of it is the letter I.

So, we have replaced the letter I, we have taken the I away and we have replaced it with an apostrophe.

In we are, are is the second word.

And the A is the first letter of the second word.

So, we have taken out the letter A and replaced it with an apostrophe.

In do not, this one's a little bit different.

We have this time taken away the letter O.

So, when do not is an exception.

When we have the word not, we take away the middle letter, the letter O and replace that with an apostrophe.

Do not push, becomes don't push.

Let's check what we have just learnt.

True or false? An apostrophe usually takes place of the letters that have been removed from the start of the first word.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now.

Well done.

Now, when I first looked at this question, I thought it was true, because an apostrophe does usually take the place of the letters that have been removed from the start of a word, but it's not from the start of the first word, it's from the start of the second word.

For example she is, we don't take away the S from she, we take away the I from is, she's.

So, this is actually false, well done if you've got that right.

In many words, the letter that is removed is a vowel.

Vowels are A, E, I, O, U.

Shall we say those together? Let me take them away and we'll do it together.

Ready? A, E, I, O, U.

Now I'm going to take them away and I'm gonna see if you can remember which ones they are.

What are the vowels? Which letters of vowels? Three, two, one.

Well done.

A, E, I, O, U.

These letters are vowels.

So in many words, the letter that's removed and replaced with an apostrophe is one of these letters which are vowels.

So, in I am, you are and we are, we take away the A from I am to become I'm.

The A from you are to become you're.

And the A from are to become we're.

I'm happy you are looking very smart.

We're learning together.

The first letter of the second word is removed and replaced with an apostrophe.

The words are pushed together.

Let's look at some more examples.

He is, she is, it is, so perhaps before I show you what the answer is, you can have a little think about how we could push these two words together and contract them.

So, we've got he is, she is, it is.

So, let's think about them in an example.

He is always kind, would become, um always kind.

She is my friend would become, um my friend.

It is sunny today, would become, um sunny today.

Can you perhaps pause the video while you think about how these words might look if we were to push them together and contract them.

Okay, well done.

So he is would become he's.

We've taken away the first letter of the second word, which is an I.

Oh, and look, it's a vowel A, E, I, O, U.

And it's become he's.

He's always kind.

She is we're taking away the first letter of the second word, which again, is an I to become, she's my friend.

It is sunny today, we're taking away the first letter of the second word and it's becoming, it's sunny today.

The first letter of the second word is removed and replaced with an apostrophe.

The words are pushed together.

Let's look at some more examples.

Do not, is not, have not, just like we did before.

Perhaps you could pause the video and think about how we could make these a bit quicker to say by pushing them together or contracting them.

Let me give you an example in a sentence.

Do not make a mess would become, um make a mess.

Is not, so let's put that in a sentence.

It is not fair, would become it um fair.

Have not, I have not got my lunch today, would become I, um got my lunch today.

Pause the video while you think about how we could contract these words.

Well done.

So in do not, can you remember when we have the word not, we don't actually get rid of the first letter of the second word.

We take away the O in not, and it becomes don't.

Don't make a mess.

Is not again, we've got that not, so we're going to take away the O and it's going to become isn't.

It isn't fair.

Have not, again we've got not.

So, we're gonna take away the O and it's going to become haven't, we've pushed them together, haven't.

I haven't got my lunch today.

So, you can see in each of those that we have taken away a letter and replaced it with an apostrophe.

The apostrophe goes where the letter has been taken away.

In not words.

The letter O is removed and replaced with an apostrophe.

In some not words, other letters can be also be removed or added.

So, when we see the word not, we have to think in our head, "Oh, this is an exception, "so we need to remember what the rules are." In cannot we take away the N and the O to become can't.

I cannot tie my shoelaces.

I can't tie my shoelaces.

Will not becomes won't.

We take away all of the letters apart from the W in will and then the O from not.

So I will not, I will not share my cake.

I won't share my cake.

Well, that wouldn't be very nice of me, would it? You can see in that example that the letters that have remained are the W from will and the N and T from not, we've pushed them together and replaced all of those missing letters with an apostrophe.

It's time for your first task in today's lesson.

I would like you to fill in the gaps on both sides of this table.

Sometimes you've been given the two words that you need to contract.

For example, it is, you would write in it's, but sometimes you've been given the contracted word and you need to separate them into what two words they originally would've been.

It's the you've got I'm, they are, don't, he's, we are and will not.

So on one side, on one column, you have got to fill in the two words separated.

And in one column you've got to fill in the words that have been pushed together and contracted using an apostrophe.

Pause the video, good luck.

Well done.

Let's see how you got on.

So, we already looked at it is becomes it's.

I'm, I'm feeling happy.

If we were going to separate that, I'm is short for I am.

I am feeling happy.

They are becomes they're.

They are over there, they're over there.

We have replaced their first letter from the second word, which is an A.

And we have replaced it with an apostrophe and pushed the two words together.

Don't, don't make a mess, becomes do not if we separate it, the two parts.

Do not make a mess.

He's my friend, is short for he is my friend.

We are having fun.

If we contract those, push them together, we are going to take away the first letter from the second word, which is an A and replace it with an apostrophe and push them together.

We are having fun, we're having fun.

And finally will not.

I will not do it, becomes I won't do it.

That's one of those trickier ones where we have not, where we take away the O, but we also are taking away those letters I, L, L from will.

So, that's one of those ones that we're just gonna have to try and store in our memories.

Will not, becomes won't.

Well done.

We have looked at apostrophes for contraction and now we're going to look at apostrophes for singular possession.

Apostrophes have two different purposes.

Apostrophes for contraction, which we've just looked at and apostrophes for possession.

Apostrophes for contraction are used in informal writing.

When two words are pushed together, letters are removed and replaced with an apostrophe.

Remember, informal is when you are a little bit more relaxed.

It's how you might talk to your friends or if you are going to write a postcard to a member of your family.

Apostrophes for possession are used to show if one noun belongs to another singular noun.

For example, here is my water glass or my glass.

So, my name's Mrs. Riley, so I might say Mrs. Riley's glass of water.

This is a noun, it's a thing.

And I am, Mrs. Riley is a naming word for a person.

It's also a noun.

And the glass of water belongs to me.

That's why I was doing this action to show it belongs.

Possession means to own or to have something.

Sometimes in our writing, we need to show that one noun, belongs to another singular noun.

Without using an apostrophe, we would have to say this, "The scooter that belongs to Aisha." However, using an apostrophe for possession, we can identify the nouns, which are scooter and Aisha and say this, "Aisha's scooter." That's much quicker, isn't it? So, if I was writing a story, or if I was trying to tell you a story, about perhaps Aisha's scooter had got stolen, I could either say, "Aisha's scooter got stolen" and used an apostrophe to show the scooter belongs to Aisha.

Or I'd have to say, "The scooter that belongs to Aisha got stolen." Well, that was a much longer way of saying it.

If I go back to my glass of water example, I could either say, "Mrs. Riley's glass of water is cold." Or I'd have to say, "The glass of water that belongs to Mrs. Riley is cold." That's a much longer way of saying it.

So, apostrophes are really, really useful.

A bit like how we use them for contractions, they help us to save a bit of time.

An apostrophe for possession is used to show if a noun belongs to another singular noun.

We usually add apostrophe S to the first noun.

Ben's house.

The bird's nest.

The dog's ball.

These are the singular nouns.

Ben, bird and dog.

They are the things that own something or possess something.

And then we add apostrophe S to those words.

The second noun, the house, the nest and the ball.

That's the noun that belongs.

These are all examples of an apostrophe being used to show possession.

So, we've learned that apostrophes can be used for contraction like I am becomes I'm, and now we're learning that they can be used for possession, like Ben's house.

The house belongs to Ben.

So, let's check what we've just learned.

True or false? We use apostrophe S to show singular possession.

True or false? Pause the video now.

Well done.

It is true.

We use apostrophe S to show singular possession.

Let's look again at how an apostrophe shows possession.

Singular noun could be a horse or it could be the name of someone like Sophia or it could be a thing like a car.

We add apostrophe S and then we have the noun that belongs to that person or that thing.

For example, our horse's or what might belong to a horse.

Our horse's, perhaps you could call out some ideas.

Oh, I heard carrots.

I heard hay.

Oh, we've got stable.

The horse's stable.

Sophia's, what might belong to Sophia? Let me hear some examples.

Oh, I heard Sophia's teddy.

Let's see what we've got.

Sophia's tablet.

And finally, the car's.

What might belong to a car? Perhaps you could call some ideas out.

The car's light.

The apostrophe S shows that one noun belongs to another noun.

Horse's stable.

Sophia's tablet.

Car's light.

These words are missing apostrophes for possession.

Where should the missing apostrophe go? Let's take a look.

The boy's painting.

Sophia's laptop.

The dog's bone.

The lady's key.

So, I would like you to look at each one and try to work out where you would put the apostrophe in each example.

Perhaps you could pause the video, while you have a little think about that.

Well done.

Hopefully you've had some thinking time.

So, the boys' painting, the apostrophe is going to go after the first noun, which is boy, because the painting belongs to the boy, it is the boy's painting.

The apostrophe goes after the first noun, the noun that owns or possesses something.

In the second example, we're going to have Sophia's laptop.

Sophia, apostrophe S, laptop.

Sophia is the noun that possesses the laptop.

So, that's where the apostrophe S is going to go after that word.

The dog's bone will become the dog's bone with an apostrophe S after dog.

The lady's key.

Lady is the noun that possesses the key.

So, it'll become the lady's key.

The key belongs to the lady.

Apostrophes for contraction and possession are useful in writing for different reasons.

Apostrophes for contraction are used in informal writing and speech.

Remember, informal means a little bit more relaxed.

I will not run in the race.

I won't run in the race.

Apostrophes for possession are used to show if something belongs to someone or something else.

The scarf belonging to Nan.

It's much quicker to say Nan's scarf.

Let's identify, that means let's find whether the apostrophes in the following sentences are apostrophes for contraction or possession.

Okay, let's take a look at the examples.

I don't want to go to the dentist today.

So, the apostrophe is in the word don't.

Is that a word that has been pushed together to be contracted for it to make a contraction or is it a word that has an apostrophe? Because one noun belongs to another.

My sister's bike has a flat tyre.

Sister's, is the word with the apostrophe.

So is it an apostrophe for contraction or possession? It's pouring with rain outside, so take an umbrella.

It's is the word that has an apostrophe.

It has it to be used for contraction or possession.

The teacher's desk is covered in textbooks to mark.

Teachers is where the apostrophe is.

Is has that been used for a contraction or possession? So, I would like you to pause the video and have a think about each of these examples and whether the apostrophe has been used for contraction or possession.

Off you go.

Okay, let's go through them.

So don't, that is short for do not.

I do not want to go to the dentist day.

And that is a contraction.

My sister's bike.

The bike belongs to my sister.

So, that is to show possession.

It's pouring with rain is short for, it is pouring with rain.

That is contraction.

The teacher's desk is covered in textbooks.

Teacher's desk, the desk belongs to the teacher.

It's her or his possession.

So, apostrophe has been used for possession.

It's time for your last task of today.

In this task, you need to identify the apostrophes in these sentences.

You need to decide whether it's an apostrophe for contraction or possession.

If it's an apostrophe for contraction, I would like you to write the letter C.

If it is an apostrophe for possession, I would like you to write the letter P.

The old woman's hand gripped her walking stick firmly.

She couldn't keep her exhausted eyes open.

The actor's costume was exquisite and very expensive.

Andeep's smile stretched from ear to ear.

It wasn't time for lunch yet, but we were ravenous.

That means really, really hungry.

So, each sentence has been read to you, you need to read each one again.

Identify where the apostrophe is and decide if it's been used for contraction, if it is write a C or possession, if it is, write a P.

Pause the video now.

Okay, well done.

Let's go through the answers.

So, in the first sentence, the old woman's hand gripped her walking stick firmly.

The apostrophe is in the word woman's.

And this is to show possession.

The hand belongs to the woman.

So, I have written the letter P, the woman's hand.

The hand belongs to the woman.

She couldn't keep her exhausted eyes open.

The apostrophe is in the word couldn't.

Couldn't is short for could not.

This is a contraction.

The actor's costume was exquisite and very expensive.

The apostrophe is in the word actors and this has been used to show possession.

So, I've written a P.

The costume belongs to the actor.

Andeep's smiles stretched from ear to ear.

The apostrophe is in the word Andeep's.

And this has been used, the apostrophe has been used here to show possession.

The smile belongs to Andeep.

Finally, it wasn't time for lunch yet, but we were ravenous.

The apostrophe as in the word wasn't, wasn't is short for was not.

This has been used for a contraction.

So, let's summarise what we've learned today.

We have learned that an apostrophe is an important piece of punctuation with more than one purpose.

Apostrophes for contraction push two words together to form one smaller word with letters omitted.

For example, I am becomes I'm.

Apostrophes for possession can show if a noun belongs to another noun, for example, Mrs. Riley's glass.

We add apostrophe S to show that one singular noun possesses another noun.

Both functions of an apostrophe are very useful in writing for different reasons.

Well, done for all your hard work in today's lesson.

Perhaps this week you can be apostrophe hunters and you can look for apostrophes in your book that you are reading and you can stop and think to yourself, "Has this apostrophe been used "to show possession or a contraction?" So, well done.

Thank you for working so hard and hopefully I'll see you again soon.

Bye.