Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mr. Buckingham, and I'm really pleased to see you here for today's lesson on apostrophes.

Now, I think you're gonna find this a really interesting one, and hopefully very useful as well.

I'll be here to help you the whole way through.

Let's make a start.

Today's lesson is called apostrophes for contraction, singular possession and plural possession two from our unit called punctuation.

By the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to accurately punctuate sentences including apostrophes for contraction, singular possession, or plural possession.

Now, apostrophes are an incredibly useful piece of punctuation and they can help us in many ways in our writing.

So we're going to learn the simple rules we need to know in order to use them accurately.

in today's lesson.

Let's get to it.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn.

Your turn.

Apostrophe for contraction, apostrophe for possession, singular and plural.

Well done.

Now, an apostrophe for contraction is a punctuation mark used to contract two words together.

An apostrophe for possession is a punctuation mark used to show if a noun belongs to another singular or plural noun.

Singular means only one, as I'm sure you know, and plural means more than one.

Let's look at our lesson outline.

We're going to start off by looking at apostrophes for contraction.

Then we'll move on to looking at apostrophes for singular possession.

And finally, for plural possession.

Now, in English, particularly when we're speaking or we're writing informally, we often use contracted forms to show two words connected together.

For instance, I'll see you in a minute.

Jen asked, "Who's there?" "I wouldn't do that!" exclaimed Izzy.

"Don't interrupt!" snapped Miss O'Neill.

And we can see in purple words which are contracted forms, which contain an apostrophe.

I'll is the contracted form of I will, who's the contracted form of who is, wouldn't is the contracted form of would not and don't is the contracted form of do not.

So we've got those two words, do not, contracted to don't.

So the contracted form is made up of two words, pushed together with that apostrophe.

For instance, who is becomes who's with our apostrophe there.

So what are the two words represented by the contracted form in each piece of direct speech here? And you'll be able to spot the contracted form by looking for that apostrophe.

Pause the video and work out the two words represented by each contracted form.

Well done.

Great job.

So where's the contracted form of where is, who've is the contracted form of who have, can't is the contracted form of cannot? And I'd is the contracted form of well done, I would.

Great job.

So an apostrophe can be used for contraction where we push two words together to make a shorter contracted form.

As we said, we often see that when we're writing informally.

So we could take the word she and the word had and make she'd.

So we've got our words to be contracted, she had, and we've pushed them together to make she'd with that apostrophe in the contracted form.

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

For instance, he would, we remove these letters to make he'd.

You are, we remove this letter to make you're, and with who had, we remove these letters to make who'd.

So what's the contracted form of each of the following pairs of words? Pause the video and have a go.

Great job.

Let's take a look.

We've got what is becoming what's.

We've removed this I.

Will have becomes will've.

We've removed the H and the A.

They will becomes they'll.

We've removed the W and the I, and she would becomes she'd.

We'd removed the W, the O, the U and the L.

So in each of those cases, we've lost some letters from the start of that second word when we've made that contracted form.

Great job.

But some contractions actually drop a letter from inside a word rather than from the front of that second word.

For instance, would and not.

We lose this O to make wouldn't.

And we've got the apostrophe where we've lost that letter.

And some contractions actually add in a letter when we make that contracted form, for instance, will and not.

Now, I bet you remember that makes won't.

And there we've actually added in an O after the W.

So we've got a new contracted form with a letter added in.

And all contractions that are made using a not word put the apostrophe between the N and the T.

in that word, as we can see in won't.

Here's some more examples.

We could say did not becomes didn't with the apostrophe between the N and the T and should not becomes shouldn't.

Again, the apostrophe is between the N and the T.

So what's the contracted form of each of the following? Pause the video and have a think.

Well, good job.

Were not becomes, well done, weren't.

Shall not is shan't.

And we've lost the Ls and that O.

So we've always got our apostrophe between the N and the T.

Must not becomes mustn't.

We've lost this O again and could not becomes couldn't.

And again, we've lost that O.

So notice how each time the apostrophe is between the N and the T in those not contracted forms. Great job.

Now, a word that often causes some confusion is it's, and it has two forms. One with an apostrophe and one without an apostrophe.

The word it's with an apostrophe is a contraction for it is.

We've taken it and is, we've removed that I, and we've made the contracted form it's with the apostrophe.

And that means it is, for instance, it's such a nuisance.

It's a privilege to be here.

It's rude to interrupt.

I'm afraid it's not ready.

Each time there we mean it is.

It is rude to interrupt.

It is such a nuisance.

But the word its without the apostrophe is not a contraction.

It shows what belongs to it.

For instance, the dog lay on its stomach.

The yacht lost its sails, the sail belonging to it, in the storm.

The government changed its mind.

And the cat pondered its choices, the choices belonging to it.

So we've got two different forms. If we've got the apostrophe, we mean it is.

So the apostrophes have been removed from these sentences.

Which sentences should have apostrophes for contraction for its? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Let's take a look.

So it's a marvellous achievement.

We mean it is a marvellous achievement.

So that should have the contracted form with the apostrophe.

We checked its temperature.

Hmm? We mean the temperature belonging to it.

So no apostrophe.

It's a tricky pronunciation.

We mean it is a tricky pronunciation.

So we should have the contracted form with the apostrophe.

And the lion stretched its muscles.

We mean the muscles belonging to it.

So that is not a contraction.

So we don't need the apostrophe.

Great job.

Let's do our first task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you some sentences which have pairs of words, which could be made into contracted forms. I want you to try and spot those pairs and rewrite each sentence using apostrophes for contraction wherever it's appropriate.

Here are your sentences.

Look out for those word pairs that could be made into a contracted form and rewrite the sentences with those apostrophes for contraction included.

Pause the video and have a try.

Great job.

Let's take a look.

We've got, in the first sentence, you've and don't.

In the second, he's and we'll.

In the third one, can't, Laura'll and she's.

Now, that one's hard to say, isn't it? Laura'll.

But we mean Laura will, and we might say that in speech.

Then we've got I'll and who's.

And in number five, we're and it's.

And finally, what're and you've.

Some of these look strange when we try and write them down but these are the contracted form, which we might use if you're speaking informally.

And notice how each of these is a speech sentence, which is when we're most likely to use in formal language, which might require a contracted form.

Great job if you've managed to use all of those.

Okay, let's move on to looking at apostrophes for singular possession now.

So we've talked about contraction where we're making a contracted form.

Now we're talking about possession where someone or something owns something else.

So a noun, as you know, is a person, a place, or a thing.

And nouns can be singular or plural.

Singular nouns might look like this.

We could say soldier, stomach, suggestion, vehicle.

These are only one.

They're singular.

Plural nouns might look like this.

Soldiers, stomachs, suggestions, vehicles.

Plural means more than one.

And a singular or a plural noun can possess another singular or plural noun.

We could have a singular noun or a plural noun possessing either a singular or a plural noun.

Let me show you what I mean.

We could say the suggestion belonging to Sam.

We could say beliefs belonging to Lucas.

We could say beliefs belonging to children.

So in the first one, we've got a singular noun belonging to another singular noun.

One thing belonging to another one thing.

In the second one, we've got a plural noun, more than one belief belonging to Lucas, a singular noun.

And in the third one, we've got a plural noun, more than one belief, belonging to another plural noun, children, more than one child.

So a singular or a plural noun can possess another singular or plural noun.

Now, when a singular noun possesses another noun, we usually add apostrophe S to that first noun.

And this is an apostrophe for singular possession.

For example, Laura's suggestion, Laura's determination, Laura's shoulders.

In each of these cases, we've got a singular noun, Laura.

Then we've used the apostrophe S to show singular possession.

And then we've got the noun that that belongs to that singular noun, Laura.

So we have a singular noun possessing another noun.

But look how two of these nouns are singular, suggestion and determination, and one is plural, shoulders.

It doesn't matter.

What matters is the noun that's doing the possessing, Laura, is singular.

So we add apostrophe S to show singular possession.

So Sofia has achieved many impressive things this year.

Which sentence shows that possession correctly with an apostrophe? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, let's take a look.

Hopefully you spotted that it should be C.

We've got Sofia, the singular noun, apostrophe S to show singular possession, and then achievement, the plural noun that belongs to the singular noun, Sofia.

So Sofia possesses those achievements.

We've used apostrophe S to show singular possession.

Great job.

Now, sometimes we might place adjectives between a singular noun and the noun it possesses.

We use the apostrophe in the same way.

It doesn't change a thing.

Let's have a look.

We could say we raised the yacht's vast sails.

We've got the adjective vast before the noun sails that belongs to the yacht.

We could say Jun's mischievous smile made me chuckle.

We have the adjective mischievous before that noun smile that belongs to the singular noun Jun.

Then we've got Mr. Martinez dismissed Izzy's ludicrous suggestion, ludicrous is our adjective or Sofia's native language is Romanian.

Each time here we've used an apostrophe for singular possession.

We've got the yacht's vast sails, Jun's mischievous smile, Izzy's ludicrous suggestion, and Sofia's native language.

Look how each time we've added apostrophe S to that singular noun to show that it owns, possesses, the other noun.

The vast sail, the mischievous smile, the ludicrous suggestion, the native language.

Let's look at one in more detail.

We've got Sofia's native language is Romanian.

So we started off with our singular noun.

We've shown singular possession with the apostrophe S.

We've got our adjective, and then we've got our noun.

The fact that we have an adjective does not change how we use that apostrophe.

And it does not change that Sofia is a singular noun, possessing another noun.

So Andeep has several suggestions about what to do.

Which sentence shows that possession correctly with an apostrophe? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, let's take a look.

Hopefully you spotted that it should be B.

We've got Andeep's suggestions.

Andeep is the singular noun, we've used apostrophe S to show singular possession and suggestions is the plural noun that Andeep, the singular, noun possesses.

Remember, it doesn't matter that suggestions is a plural noun.

What matters is that Andeep is a singular noun.

So we put apostrophe S to show that singular possession.

Well done if you spotted that.

Now, if the singular moun that owns a noun ends in S, we put the apostrophe after the S.

We don't add another S.

Let me show you some examples.

We could say Lucas' rumbling stomach.

We could say the United States' capital and we could say the glass' shining surface.

Now it sounds like we've added another S, doesn't it? The glass' shining with surface, but in fact, we haven't.

We've just added the apostrophe after the S because these nouns already ended in S.

Lucas, the United States and the glass all end in S already.

So we've added the apostrophe after the S, even though these are just singular nouns like we've seen already.

So we've got a singular noun ending in S.

We've used S apostrophe to show singular possession.

And then we've got the noun that belongs to the singular noun, the stomach, the capital, and the shining surface.

So Lucas keeps interrupting.

Mr. Martinez.

Which sentence shows that possession correctly with an apostrophe? Have a think and pause the video.

Well done.

Great job.

Hopefully you spotted it is C.

So we've got Mr. Martinez ignored Lucas' constant interruptions.

So Lucas already ends in S.

So we've put the apostrophe after the S, and then we've got the constant as our adjective and interruptions as the noun that belongs to our singular noun Lucas.

So Lucas ends in S, so it's S apostrophe.

Well done for geting that one.

Let's do our second test for this lesson.

I'm going to show you some ideas that talk about possession.

I want you to write a sentence using each idea, using an apostrophe for singular possession and add an adjective if you can.

So here's our first one.

The signature belonging to Miss O'Neill.

Well, that's an idea about possession.

The signature belongs to a singular noun, Miss O'Neill.

So I could write this sentence: Miss O'Neill's signature was at the bottom of the letter.

I have used apostrophe S after Miss O'Neill, the singular noun, to show that the signature belongs to her.

Here are the ideas I'd like you to use.

Pause the video and have a go at writing sentences that show singular possession using these ideas with that apostrophe for singular possession.

Have a go.

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

Now, yours will, of course, look different to mine, but hopefully you've got the apostrophe in the same place as I have.

I could say for the first one, the nurse looked carefully at Jacob's purple bruise.

I've got Jacob, apostrophe S.

For number two I wrote, I borrowed Sam's dictionary so that I could check a spelling.

For number three, I wrote our country's parliament is located in London.

For number four, I wrote I received a consequence because I broke the school's strict behaviour system.

So I added the adjective strict as well.

In number five, I wrote the room's temperature was far too high.

And for number six, I struggled to learn the word's difficult pronunciation.

Really well done if you've got those apostrophes in the right place, showing apostrophe S in all these cases for singular possession.

None of our nouns here end in an S, so we didn't have to use that special rule, which we had with Lucas and our other examples where we have S apostrophe.

But if they had ended an S, then that would still have been a way of showing singular possession.

Really well done if you managed to get these.

Okay, for the final part of our lesson, we're going to look at apostrophes for plural possession.

Now, most plural nouns in English end in S, for instance, yachts, shoulders, muscles, soldiers, languages, and vegetables.

All of these are plural nouns showing more than one thing, and they're ending in S.

So if those yachts have billowing sails, we could say that the billowing sails belong to the yachts.

So we're talking about possession.

Yachts is a plural noun, and the word yachts already ends in S.

So all we do to show that plural possession is to add the apostrophe after the S.

So we would say the yachts' billowing sails fluttered in the wind, and I've put yachts with the apostrophe after the S there.

So it's S apostrophe again.

When a plural noun possesses another noun, we usually, as we just saw, add the apostrophe for possession after the S.

So if we have this idea, the girls made several suggestions, we would write, we listened to the girls' suggestions, S apostrophe.

The symbols have different meanings.

We could say she studied the symbols' meanings, the meanings belonging to those symbols, more than one symbol.

S apostrophe again.

We could say the rooms have different temperatures.

We would say, I measured the rooms' temperatures.

All of these, suggestions, symbols, rooms, are plural nouns ending in S.

So we have used S apostrophe, girls' suggestions, symbols' meanings, rooms' temperatures with the apostrophe after the S to show plural possession.

So how would the apostrophe for plural possession be used for each of these ideas? Here's an example.

The weapons belonging to the soldiers would be the soldiers' weapons with the apostrophe after the S in soldiers.

Pause the video and have a think about these three.

Well done, good effort.

For A, we could say the teachers' conversations with the apostrophe after the S.

For B, we could say the neighbours' loud voices, apostrophe after the S.

And for C, the girls' many interruptions.

We've got the apostrophe after the S on each occasion.

Really good job if you've got the same.

But unfortunately for us, not all plural nouns in English do end in S.

For example, we have children, men, women, geese, feet, people, and sheep.

These are plural nouns.

We mean more than one man, more than one woman, more than one foot.

But in each case, they don't end in S.

And in these cases, for these special plural nouns, we just add apostrophe S as we did for the singular nouns.

So we could say children's ideas.

That means ideas belonging to children.

Men's prejudices, women's suggestions, geese's strong wings, people's recommendations.

In each case, some thing's belonging to a plural noun but the plural noun doesn't end in S, so we've added apostrophe S instead.

So to decide how to use the apostrophe for plural possession, we need to follow these steps.

First, we take the noun, let's say child and muscle, and then we make it plural.

So we would have, well done, children and muscles.

Then we think, does that plural end in S? For children, the answer is no.

And for muscles, yes, it does.

So for muscles, we already have an S.

Then if we've not got an S, so the answer is no, we have to add it.

We have to write apostrophe S to show that possession.

If there's already an S, like in muscles, we don't add another S.

We just have the apostrophe after the S, which is already there.

So for children, we could say the children's beliefs with the apostrophe before the S.

And then for muscles, we would say the muscles' soreness with the apostrophe after the S.

So for muscles, we already had an S in the plural, so we don't add another one.

For children, we didn't have an S.

So we add one after the apostrophe, apostrophe S.

So which sentence uses an apostrophe for plural possession correctly? Pause the video and have a think.

Good job.

I'm sure you spotted that it is B.

So we've got sheep as our plural noun.

It doesn't end in S.

So we must add apostrophe S to show that plural possession.

Well done.

Let's do our final task for this lesson.

I'd like you to write a sentence for each of the ideas I'm going to show you using an apostrophe for plural possession, and you could add an adjective if you want.

Here's an example.

The stomachs belonging to cows.

You might know that cows have more than one stomach, so they've got plural stomachs belonging to plural cows.

And that's what matters, isn't it? That the cows that own those stomachs are plural.

So I could say as my sentence, the cows' stomachs were busy digesting grass.

So here I've used cows as my plural noun.

It already ends in S.

So I've just added the apostrophe after it to show the possession of those stomachs.

So here are the ideas I'd like you to use.

Pause the video and see if you can write a sentence for each using an apostrophe for plural possession.

Have a go.

Okay, let's take a look.

Now, my example sentences will look different to yours, but hopefully you have your apostrophes in the same place.

So for the first one, I've written Miss O'Neill listened carefully to the children's suggestions.

Children didn't end an S, so I've added apostrophe S.

For number two, I've written there was only a short queue outside the men's bathroom.

Men is a plural noun, doesn't end in S, so I've added apostrophe S.

For number three, I've written the government has to consider people's ideas when it makes laws.

Again, people is a plural noun, doesn't end in S.

I've had to add apostrophe S.

For number four, we peeled the vegetables' skins with sharp knives.

Vegetables already ends in S, so I've added the apostrophe after the S.

For number five, in some countries, women's opportunities are very limited by law.

Women does not end in S.

I've added apostrophe S.

And in number six, the adults' prejudices made them act poorly.

Adults end in S, so I've just added the apostrophe after the S.

Brilliant job if your apostrophes are in the same place as mine.

Well done.

Okay, let's summarise what we've learned this lesson.

We've said that apostrophes can be used to show contraction and possession.

An apostrophe for contraction allows us to join two words together into a shorter, contracted form and we often use these in direct speech.

An apostrophe for singular possession helps us to show that a noun belongs to just one noun and an apostrophe for plural possession helps us to show that a noun belongs to more than one other noun.

Really well done in this lesson.

We've covered lots of rules, but I'm hoping that you'll find them really useful in making your writing even more accurate than it already is.

Really well done.