Apostrophes

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What’s an apostrophe’s job?

• To show possession

• To show contraction (omission of letters or numbers)

• To form plurals of certain letters or words

You Practice:

• Add an apostrophe to show possession (These are singular nouns, add an s)• Writer cramp

• Witch brew

• Someone idea

• Employee paycheck

• Nurse uniform

• Fox tail

• Boss decision

• Witness testimony

Plural words that end in s, add only an apostrophe

• Teachers conference

• The Davises vacation

• Nurses duties

• Employees union

• Witnesses testimony

• Guests names

Practice

• Who’s chili is the tastiest?

• Whose chili is the tastiest

• Tomato’s for sale

• Tomatoes for sale

• The cell phone is our’s

• The cell phone is ours

Contractions

• Use an apostrophe in contractions to indicate omission of letters or numbers.• Summer of 02

• Cant

• Hes

• Theyre

• Youd

• Youve

• Youre

• dont

Correct the following sentence

• There’s three reasons to come to school today.

• Shes always in peoples business.

• Dont shoot the messanger.

• Why cant she use an apostrophe correctly?

• Im worried that Ill fail if I dont figure this out.

• Its always hard to tell if its going to rain on its head.

Use an apostrophe to form certain plurals

• In abbreviations that have periods• M.D.’s

• Ph.D.’s

• P’s and q’s

• The instructor handed out a few A’s.

• Don’t give me any if’s, and’s, or but’s.

Remember…

• When in doubt, spell it out. • Take the time to use apostrophes correctly.

• Double check your work to see that you have fixed errors.

• Stop being lazy in anything you write. Even texts should use correct grammar!

• Look intelligent by caring about the work you put out.