THE SKILL
Now, this isn’t ground-breaking stuff; you probably learned how to use an apostrophe in third grade. But, if
your apostrophe skills are a bit dusty, you’re not alone; plenty of adults and professionals misuse apostrophes.
Between contractions, plurals, and those tricky words ending in –s, this simple punctuation mark can get a bit
confusing. Here are three things you need to know about using apostrophes:
Plurals— A plural noun is more than one of something (two goats, three fans, etc.). PLURALS ALONE DO NOT
USE APOSTROPHES!
Possessives— Possessive nouns usually DO use an apostrophe. When something is singular (only one) and owns
something (possessive), we add an apostrophe, then the letter –s (‘s).
Plural Possessives— Plural possessives also use an apostrophe. Since the noun is plural, it already ends in –s
(usually), so we add an apostrophe AFTER the –s to show that it is both plural AND possessive.
WHAT THESE QUESTIONS LOOK LIKE
Three baseball (3) player’s were on base.
3.
A. NO CHANGE
B. players’
C. players
D. players’s
The adjective three tells us that the noun is plural. There is no indication in this sentence that the three players
possess anything, so the noun is not possessive. Since it is not possessive, do not add an apostrophe (choice C).
STRATEGIES TO WIN
Ask yourself these three questions when determining how to use an apostrophe:
1. Does the noun own/possess anything? If NO, do NOT use an apostrophe.
2. If you answered YES to question one, is the noun alone singular? If so, add –‘s.
3. If the noun is not singular, is it plural? And just to check, does it also own/possess something? If YES, add
an apostrophe AFTER the –s.
One more thing: It’s= It is. Its= possessive. Get these two straight; ACT usually asks one or two questions on it.
Get to know your possessive pronouns and contractions if you don’t already.
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© 2012 Mary Kate Durkin & Chris Mikulskis