Basic rules of apostrophes created by Bryce Hoyle & Xi Lin

1. Apostrophes
Bryce Hoyle & Xin Li
9/25/14

2. Basic Rules
● The marking of the omission of one or more
letters. (do not & don’t)
● Possessive case. (one month’s time)

3. Rule 1
❏ Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is
always placed at spot where letters were removed.
Examples:
❏ do not = don’t
❏ you are = you’re
❏ she is = she’s

4. Rule 2
● Place apostrophe before S to show singular
possession.
o (Names ending in S should include a second S.)
Singular: one boy’s pet, Ms. Sally’s store
Names ending in S: Mr. Jones’s house, Texas’s cities

5. Rule 3
❏ To show plural possession make noun plural
first then use apostrophe.
❏ Example:
Two dogs’ bone

6. Rule 4
❏ Do not use an apostrophe for plural of a name.
❏ Example
The Johnsons have two lions and a cat.
I have four Xbox One controllers.

7. Rule 5
❏ Don’t use with possessive pronouns (his, hers,
its, theirs, ours, yours) only use if a contraction
is used.
❏ Example
It is = It’s
That is = That’s

8. Knowledge Check
● I bought some ______.
A.) Apples B.) Apple’s C.) Apples’
● _____ mine.
A.) Thats B.) That’s
● I talked to the _______ father.
A.) Children’s B.) Childrens’

9. Answers
1. A.) Apples
2. B.) That’s
3. A.) Children’s