Lesson video

Okay.

Today, we're going to introduce apostrophes for singular possession.

So we'll understand a little bit more about what that is during the lesson, but if that doesn't make any sense at all to you, then look at earlier lessons in the grammar section.

So there are some in unit 12, in the Aladdin unit, for apostrophes.

And I think there are also some earlier on in the grammar section.

So if that just suddenly is like a totally new language, then start somewhere else and then come back to this lesson and you'll find it much easier, but we are introducing apostrophes for singular possession.

So let's get going.

Okay.

Let's look at our agenda, so what we're doing in this lesson.

First of all, we're going to revise apostrophes.

So what we already know about apostrophes.

Next, we're going to look at apostrophes for possession.

And then we are going to practise using those apostrophes correctly.

In this lesson you will need: your exercise book or some paper, a pencil or pen, and of course, your brain.

Go and get those things if you don't have them already and put yourself in somewhere that is as distraction-free as possible.

Pause the video now just to make sure you're prepared.

Off you go.

Let's look at the key vocabulary first.

So here's some of our key vocabulary.

Apostrophe.

Your turn.

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark, so something that helps us understand writing and what's happening to the words and letters on the page.

My turn, possession.

Your turn.

So possession is something that belongs to someone or something.

So my watch, for example, is my possession.

I own it.

And contraction.

So contraction is something becoming smaller and these are really important words for today.

So my turn, contraction.

Your turn.

So can you point to the apostrophe? Three, two, one, point.

There it is in the middle.

And that goes up at the top of the letter.

Let's see if we can spot some in this writing.

See if you can point with your nose, with one finger and with another finger to the apostrophes in these sentences.

Have a look.

First one.

The delicate Swallow's wings were becoming weary.

The Prince's eyes were filled with tears.

"Why are you crying?" asked the bird, "You're supposed to be the Happy Prince!" So point to the first one with your nose.

Second one with your finger.

Then the last one with your other finger.

Okay.

Let's see whether you spotted them.

There we go.

"The delicate Swallow's", so belonging to the Swallow.

"The Prince's eyes", so the eyes belonging to the Prince.

And "You're" which was you are.

And it's been squished, "supposed to be the Happy Prince!" Good spotting.

What is an apostrophe? So an apostrophe, ooh, why don't you tell me first? See if you can tell me what you think it is.

It is? Good ideas.

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark used to show possession, something belonging, or contraction, something getting smaller.

So let's have a look at those two examples.

The first is possession.

This is just reminding us what an apostrophe is.

To show that one thing belongs or is connected to something or someone.

So like, "The Swallow's wings", the wings that are the Swallow's wings.

So you can see there it's an apostrophe S.

Or, so that's the last one was for possession, grab, grab your possessions.

And the next one is for contractions.

So squishing two parts, two words together and we mark it with an apostrophe.

So to show that you have omitted, left out some letters, when you're joining words together.

So "You are", the "A" from "are" comes out and squash, we've got an apostrophe where the "A" was.

So "You are", "You're supposed to be the Happy Prince." So this is from Oscar Wilde's, "The Happy Prince" story.

So what are the two types of apostrophes? Can you remind me please? The first one is? Possession, grab your possessions.

Possession.

The next one is, can you show me with the sign? Contraction.

So it's when two words squish together and the apostrophe marks where some letters have gone missing.

So we're focusing on singular possession today.

So singular is one, something belonging to one thing.

So let's have a look at what we would have for a singular possession.

We would an apostrophe and an S at the end.

And that is what you need to remember.

You add an apostrophe and an S at the end, when something belongs to one thing, a single thing.

For example, "The Sapphire eyes of the Prince" would become, so sapphire's that kind of blue colour and also it's the gem, would become, "The Prince's", Prince apostrophe S, "sapphire eyes shone brightly." So that's putting it to a sentence.

Ooh, and can you spot something? "The Prince's sapphire eyes shone brightly." Huh, I haven't got a capital letter there.

Naughty Ms. Waddell, that should have a capital letter.

So the Prince is one person or thing, and the noun, the eyes, belong to that person or thing.

So, "The sweat on the face of the ill boy." So that would turn into "The ill boy's", so boy apostrophe S, "face", the face belonging to the boy, "was drenched with sweat." And I've remembered my capital letter there, phew! Okay.

So let's see how hard you were concentrating.

Can you point to me, to the correctly-used apostrophe or possession here? So we've got, "The Princes'", we've got S apostrophe "ruby", and then we've got "The Prince's" apostrophe S "ruby".

Which one is correct? Point, point, point, point, point, point.

Three, two, one, decide.

It's, this one.

So it's apostrophe S.

So let's have a look at the next one.

"The feet of the statue." Would it be "The statues' feet", S apostrophe, or "The statue's feet", apostrophe S? Point, point, point, point.

Three, two, one.

Ah, that one.

Well done.

Okay, next one.

"The smile of the woman." I can tell you a woman got it.

"The woman's smile" or "The womans's smile"? Point to the point, to the point, to the point, to the point, to the point, to the point, go! This one.

Well done.

Okay.

So now we're going to pause and I would like you to turn these sections, these phrases, into, put an apostrophe S there, so turn it into singular possessive apostrophe.

So, "The wings of the bird" would be "The bird's wings." I want you to put the apostrophe in the right place.

So can you pause, write it down, each one.

You could put your title as singular possessive apostrophe or the learning objective that we had right at the beginning and do this task for me.

Off you go.

Ooh, forgot about that.

Want to go further? So if you want to go further, you can write a full sentence for me.

So can you pause now and have a go.

Pause now.

Okay.

Ooh, I can hear someone driving in the park outside my house here.

Okay.

Ready, steady, go.

"The wings of the bird" would be "The bird's wings." "The tear of the Prince" would be "The Prince's tear." And you can see it's bird apostrophe S wings.

"The Prince's", Prince apostrophe S tear and "The Swallow's warmth", so Swallow apostrophe S.

Now I've got Prince and Swallow capitalised here.

And that's because these are characters in a story.

So they're not just any old prince or any old swallow.

It's a particular swallow and a particular prince in a story.

And that's why I have capitalised them here.

So that in another situation you might have lower case.

So here's some example sentences that you may have written down if you went further.

So really, really well done if you gave that a go.

And so these are just some I came up with, yours are probably better.

"The bird's wings were thin, but strong." Make sure you've got your full stops, your capital letters.

And there I've got a comma before my conjunction, but.

"The moon reflected in the Prince's tear." So there, the tear belonging to the Prince apostrophe S.

"The Swallow's kindness warmed the Prince's heart." So the Swallow apostrophe S kindness warmed the Prince's, another apostrophe S, heart.

And I've got my capital letters and full stop in those full sentences.

So what about when the noun, the thing, ends with an S anyway? Like, "The hands of the seamstress".

So seamstress is an old-fashioned way of saying a tailor, someone who mends clothes.

And this is again from the story of "The Happy Prince".

So the hands of the seamstress.

What you would do is add an apostrophe and then S but you might, you might see it, where it just has an apostrophe.

But I think for ease, we're going to remember that you just add apostrophe S.

So, "The seamstress's hands were rough and worn." Adding an apostrophe S.

So let's give this a go.

"The hands of the seamstress." So which one's right? Point to it, point to it, point to it, point to it, point.

Ready, steady, go! This one.

So it's two s's and then apostrophe S.

"The seamstress's hands." Let's have another go.

Point to it, point to it, point to it, point to it, point to it, go! This one.

Well done.

So add apostrophe S.

So the other one I put apostrophe SS and that wouldn't be right.

So what about possession of the word, it? "It's wings were tired." So it kind of looks right 'cause the wings are belonging to it, but actually it's a tricky one.

We don't use it.

We don't use it for saying that something belongs to it.

We only use apostrophe S, the it's, when you say it is.

So "It is wings were tired" doesn't make sense, so you don't do apostrophe S.

So let's have a look at how we remember.

So this is an example of when you would use it, you'd say, "It's beautiful!" because it makes sense, doesn't it? To say, "It is beautiful!" And so you only use it for contraction.

So apostrophe S, you use for contraction not for possession.

So let's just have a go.

So the tip is check whether you can swap it's with it is, and then you know whether it's supposed to, it's supposed to, have an apostrophe or not.

So, "The Swallow was proud of it's good work." Can you say the Swallow is proud of it is good work? Make sense? You decide.

So look at the next one.

"It's sword had a bright red ruby on top." Can you swap it with it is? "It's a shabby statue." So decide which one of those has used the apostrophe correctly.

First one, what do you think? Thumbs up or thumbs down? Interesting.

Second one, thumbs up or thumbs down? Okay.

And last one, thumbs up or thumbs down? Okay.

Let's check.

Thumbs down for the first one.

The Swallow was proud of it is good work? Doesn't make sense so you don't have an apostrophe for that one.

It is sword had a bright red ruby on top? Doesn't make sense, does it? It is a shabby statue? Yeah.

That one makes sense.

So let's have a look at what they should look like.

So, The swallow was proud of its, possession, so no apostrophe.

Good work.

Its sword, its belonging to it.

It is doesn't make sense.

Its sword had a bright red ruby on top, possession.

"It's a shabby statute." It is.

It is, It's a shabby statue, so that you can tell that's come from, it is.

An apostrophe for contraction, that one.

Okay.

This is your main task.

I want you to use an apostrophe for possession.

I've got three columns here and I would like you to write the word as it should be with the correct apostrophe.

So I made one deliberate mistake in the apostrophe.

So for our column, I want you to correct that one for me as well.

So you can write one column with Prince, Swallow, Seamstress, child.

One column with sword, kindness, smile, eyes, sorry, smile.

And then the last column with what it should look like with an apostrophe, okay? Pause now and write that down.

If you want to go further, you can write a sentence for each example, and that would be really pushing yourself.

That would be fantastic and really help with practise.

So pause now if you want to do that.

Okay.

Let's check.

Have your work in front of you.

Prince, sword, Prince's, so Prince apostrophe S.

Swallow, kindness, Swallow's, Swallow apostrophe S.

Seamstress, eyes, Seamstress', it should have another S in there.

Oh, silly me.

Seamstress's eyes.

And then, child, smile, child's smile.

Oh, so glad you're here to help me spot these silly mistakes.

And if you went further, that's really fantastic.

Well, well done.

Okay.

Well done.

You've finished at another lesson and if you do like to, please share your work with your parent or carer or someone at home.

Well done for working so hard today, give yourself a pat on the back.

Woohoo!.