Lesson video

- Hello, everyone, it's really good to see you again today.

Remember, my name is Mrs. Hardisty.

And I'm going to be teaching you for your English lesson.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all the brilliant work you are going to do today.

So, when you are ready, let's get started.

This is what we're going to be doing in today's lesson.

Today, we are going to be looking at apostrophes.

We're gonna cover their different purposes.

We're gonna think about apostrophes for plural possession, and I'm going to explain what that means in a moment.

And then we're going to practise using apostrophes correctly.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil or pen, and your brain for learning.

So can you pause the video and make sure you've got all of those things now? Well done, let's get going.

We're gonna start with our key vocabulary, the words that we're going to be using in today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Apostrophe.

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark.

Possession.

So a possession is something that belongs to someone or something.

So my cardigan is my possession.

It belongs to me.

Plural.

So a plural is a word describing more than one thing.

It could be two things or a hundred things, but it's more than one.

So you could have many bees or lots of flowers.

And normally, plurals end in an S.

Noun.

So noun is a person, place, or thing.

And we're going to be mainly thinking about plural nouns today.

So let's think now about what exactly apostrophes are.

What is an apostrophe? Think about what it looks like and why you might use it.

You might already think you know what it looks like.

Can you tell me? So an apostrophe, as we mentioned, is a punctuation mark.

Full stop, exclamation mark.

And it's used to show possession, that something belongs to someone or something, or contraction.

And today we're mainly going to be thinking about possession.

So an apostrophe looks a little bit like a number nine, but it's much, much smaller.

Have a look at these punctuation marks, and see if you can point to the one that is an apostrophe.

Point to it on your screen now.

Which one is it? It's this one.

And remember, the other two are an exclamation mark and a full stop.

So let's just remind ourselves of the two purposes of an apostrophe.

What do they show? So the one we're thinking about today is possession.

That's when apostrophe can be used to show that something belongs to, or is connected to, something or someone else.

So I've got the example here of Joseph's, Joseph's coat.

Joseph's eyes, Joseph's hat.

It's something that belongs to Joseph.

And we use the apostrophe to show it.

The other reason why you might use an apostrophe is for contraction.

And that's where it shows that you have omitted, or left out, some letters when you were joining words together.

There's an example on my screen, you can see the word don't with an apostrophe.

And that apostrophe shows that there used to be a letter there, when that word was two words.

The words, "Do not." The apostrophe shows that there's a missing O.

We're not thinking about contraction today, but it's always worth remembering that that's also why we use apostrophes.

So now we're going to focus on possession.

The first thing we're going to do is watch a video.

- [Spokesperson] Roll up, roll up to the greatest show on Earth.

The possessive apostrophe circus.

The audience laughed at the clown's tricks.

One clown, singular.

Add apostrophe S to show the tricks belong to the clown.

The audience laughed at the clowns' tricks.

Many clowns, plural.

Add an apostrophe after the S to show the tricks belong to the clowns.

The audience were impressed by the acrobat's speed.

One Acrobat, singular.

Add apostrophe S to show the speed belong to the acrobat.

The audience were impressed by the acrobats' speed.

More than one acrobat, plural.

Add an apostrophe after the S to show the speed belong to the acrobats.

The audience gasped at the animal's balancing skills.

One animal, singular.

Add apostrophe S to show the balancing skills belong to the animal.

The audience gasped at the animals' balancing skills.

Several animals, plural.

Add an apostrophe after the S to show the balancing skills belong to the animals.

- So let's unpack that a little bit.

Here, I am describing a bee.

A bee's tongue.

The long tongue belongs to the bee.

So the noun is the bee, and I'm showing that its tongue belongs to it.

I can use an apostrophe to show that in a different way.

So can you see here, I've now added an apostrophe and an S to the noun, bee.

So now my sentence reads, "The bee's tongue is very long." I'm showing that the tongue belongs to the bee.

Let's look at another example.

So here I have the sentence, "The colourful petals "belong to the flower." How can I show that in a different way with an apostrophe? Let's look now.

The flower's colourful petals attract bees.

Can you see that I have used an apostrophe and an S to show that the petals belong to the flower? Now, sometimes you might want to use the word, "It," to represent a noun in a sentence.

So in this sentence here, instead of using the word bee, I've used the word, "It." The tongue belongs to it.

Now, I know that we've just said that if we want to show the possession, we add an apostrophe and an S.

But when you're using the word, "It," the rule slightly changes.

Let's see why.

Hmm, I've just added an apostrophe and an S to show its tongue.

But actually, that really means, "It is tongue." And that doesn't make any sense at all.

So the rule is when you want to show possession for the word, "It," you don't use an apostrophe.

You just add the S by itself.

And that's the only time that you do this.

So let's have a look at this example now.

And can you point to which one is correct? Is it the pink box or the blue box.

For its eyes, if you wanted to show the eyes belonging to it.

Point to them, ready? Steady, go! Which one was it? Well done, it was the pink one, because remember, when it's for the word, "It," we don't use an apostrophe.

So here is your first task.

You need to show an apostrophe possession for these nouns and their possession.

I've got one to show you on screen.

So the noun is bee, and its possession are its wings.

And you can see that I've written an apostrophe and an S to write the words, "The bee's wings." You are going to have a few different ones in a moment to try yourself.

And if you want to go further, you can also put them into a sentence.

So, I'm going to move onto your examples.

And then I'd like you to pause the video.

So here are the words I would like you to use to show a noun and its possession.

Pause the video and have a go at writing them now.

Well done, everyone! You might want to now check your answers, and see if they are the same as mine.

So for three of them, you just add an apostrophe and an S.

Bee's stripy body, flower's beautiful scent, and the honey's colour.

But remember that rule when it's the word, "It," we don't use an apostrophe.

We just add an S.

If you've made a little error, you might want to correct it now to make sure that you have done it properly.

So now we're going to think of this thing called plural possession.

That means something that belongs to many things.

So now I don't have one bee in my picture.

Can you see I've got lots of bees? So, I have lots of bees and their wings.

My sentence is, "The fluttering wings that belong "to all the bees." I want to use an apostrophe for that.

I think I've got a problem, because bees already ends in an S.

So what am I going to do? Let's look.

Ah, so if the noun is a plural and has an S on the end, we don't need to add another S.

We just put an apostrophe at the end.

So you can see here I've got the sentence, "All the bees' wings flutter." And I just have an apostrophe at the end of the word bees.

I haven't added another S.

Now I have a picture of lots of flowers, not just one flower.

The sentence is, "The petals that belong "to all the flowers attract bees." So I want to show that the petals belong to the flowers, but flowers has an S at the end.

What do I need to do? I just add an apostrophe.

I don't need to add another S.

The flowers' petals attract the bees.

And you can see this is really useful, because it makes our sentences a bit more succinct, and shorter, and easier to understand by using an apostrophe to show that the petals belong to the flowers.

Can you have a look at these two examples, and spot which one is correct? The lorries' wheels.

Which one is correct? Think about our rules and point to the pink or the blue in three, two, one.

It is, of course, the blue one.

Because we don't need to add that extra S when the plural word ends in an S.

Here's another one, have a look.

The trees' leaves.

So imagine there is a big forest of trees, and all of their leaves are turning brown in the autumn.

Which way would you spell it? Point to the pink and the blue in three, two, one.

Which one is it? That's right, it's the pink one this time.

Because again, we just put the apostrophe at the end of the plural noun.

Okay, what about this one? The twins' parents.

So, remember twins are two brothers or sisters.

The twins' parents.

Point to which one is correct in three, two, one.

Which one is it? The pink one again, isn't it? Just add the apostrophe.

So now we're going to look at some common exceptions.

That means things that break our normal rules about using apostrophes.

Sometimes a plural of a noun doesn't end in S.

So the plural of the word child is children.

It's not childs.

So how do we show the possession for the word children? If I want to write children's faces, how do I show it? Well actually, it just follows the normal rules that we learned at the start of our lesson.

We just add an apostrophe and an S.

So let's just check we know which one is correct.

Have a look at these two examples.

The bus' wheels.

Bus ends in an S, so how do I show the possession? Ready, steady, point to the right one.

And it's the pink one, isn't it? So here is your main task for today's lesson.

You'll see that it's very similar to the task that you did earlier in the lesson.

You need to accurately use an apostrophe and S to show the possession for each noun.

I have included some answers, and you have to work out the two words that were used to create that.

So look at cat's eyes.

Which two words have I used to create that? And then be very careful with the last one.

It ends in an S.

So, I'd like you to now pause the video, and have a go at writing your answers.

Well done, everyone.

So here are the answers to your main task.

Again, you might want to pause the video, and just check what you have written against my answers to make sure that they are all correct.

Let's have a quick recap of what we've done in today's lesson.

We thought about the different purposes apostrophes have for possession and for contraction.

We talked about all the different rules for plural possession, especially when a noun ends in an S.

And then we practised using those apostrophes correctly.

Well done, everyone.

You have worked so hard in today's lesson.

There were lots of different rules for you to learn, and you have done brilliantly.