INTRODUCING APOSTROPHES

Apostrophes are used in contractions (such as can't and don't) and in possessive constructions (such as Mary's car).
In this lesson you will practice using apostrophes to show posssession.

Suggestion: In high school you may have been given rules about "singulars" and "plurals" with apostrophes.
Because there are so many exceptions to the "singular and plural" system, most students prefer a simpler approach to apostrophes.

I suggest you study the rules and examples in this lesson and use only this system.
It's a simple one that works every time!

Rule 1: Apostrophes signal an "of" idea.
Rule 2: When you use an apostrophe, don't use the word "of."

Think about these examples:

Mary's car (car of Mary)	babies' medicine (medicine of babies)
a mother's love (love of a mother)	both boys' homework (homework of boys)
James' locker (locker of James)	baby's medicine (medicine of a baby)

HOW TO PLACE APOSTROPHES CORRECTLY

Rule 3: The apostrophe goes behind the last letter of the word.

If you can spell the word, you know where the apostrophe goes. Here are the possessive words you just saw, with the last letter highlighted.

Mary	babies
mother	boys
James	baby

Notice that sometimes s is the last letter of the word or name; sometimes it isn't. For example, my name ends in s: Dr. Reynolds. Other names ending in s include Marcus, Santos, Lois, and Jones. Johnson and Paul don't end in s.
Does either your first or last name end in s?

Here are more examples to study:

Dr. Reynolds' car	Dr. Johnson's car	the boss' car
the lady's clothing	the ladies' clothing	Paul's car

Study all the examples on this page before you try the Practice Exercise. If you have questions after you've spent some time thinking about the examples, e-mail me at PCC or at home, or both. Remember to sign your name!

Practice Exercise
Instructions: Using the first set of examples as a guide, insert apostrophes into these phrases. (Put your name and the title of the assignment into the subject line of each e-mail!) Email the results to me.
Suggestion: Find the last letter of the word first. Example: Alice's house - the last letter of Alice is e. And remember that sometimes s is the last letter (as in my name: Reynolds).

Johns car	puppys medicine	Doris book	a mans job
a fathers love	both girls teacher	a boys bicycle	librarys books
a nurses uniform	puppies medicine	an officers duties	a colleges staff