Apostrophes: the second most tested

punctuation mark on the ACT test

ACT Prep

Possessive vs. Singular

Nouns
What do you notice about the following
sentences?
Rachel was in the room.
My mom forgot the cat.
We removed the bottle.
Versus
Rachels teacher was in the room.
My mom forgot the cats food.
We removed the bottles label.

Possessive vs. Singular

Nouns
A singular noun (for example: Rachel, the cat,
the bottle) can be made possessive by adding
an apostrophe followed by an s and
whatever the noun is possessing.
Rachel was in the room.
My mom forgot the cat.
We removed the bottle.
Versus the possessive
Rachels teacher was in the room.
My mom forgot the cats food.
We removed the bottles label.

Possessive vs. Singular

Nouns
The apostrophe follows directly after
the noun. If you move the apostrophe
after the s (cats rather than cats),
you will change the meaning of the
sentence so there are multiple cats.
My mom forgot the cats food.
My mom forgot the cats food.
Forgetting the apostrophe altogether
will render a possessive sentence
meaningless.

Possessive and Plural Nouns

What do you notice about the following
sentences?
The boys teachers was in the room.
My mom forgot the cats food.
We removed the bottles labels.

Possessive and Plural Nouns

The nouns are plural which means there is
more than one.
The boys teachers was in the room.
My mom forgot the cats food.
We removed the bottles labels.
The apostrophe directly follows plural nouns
that end in s to make them possessive.
What about plural nouns that dont end in
s? i.e. women

Possessive and Plural Nouns

What do you notice about this
sentence?
The womens locker room needs to
be cleaned.

Possessive and Plural Nouns

The womens locker room needs to be
cleaned.
Treat it as a singular noun. An
apostrophe s is all you need.

Possessive and Multiple

Nouns
Sometimes you will want to indicate
the possessive of more than one noun
(Val and Adam, Christy and Alaina).
What do you notice about the following
sentences?
Val and Adams dog solves crimes.
Christys and Alainas socks are
clean.

Possessive and Multiple

Nouns
The placement of the apostrophe
depends on whether the possessors
share the possession.
Val and Adams dog solves crimes.
Christys and Alainas socks are clean.
Val and Adam share the dog. Christy
and Alaina dont share each others
socks.

Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns do not use an
Nominative pronoun
Possessive pronoun
apostrophe.
I

my

you (s.)

your

she

her

he

his

we

our

you (pl.)

your

they

their

it

its

who

whose

Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns do not use an
apostrophe.
For example:
The dog chewed on its tail.
You should give him your wallet.

Its versus Its

Its is the possessive form of it.
The dog chewed on its tail.
When dealing with its versus its,
its is always signals the contraction for
it is.

Its a beautiful day.

It is a beautiful day.

Their versus theyre versus

there
Their is the possessive form of they. (The clue is their
has he and i within the spelling of the word, so it must
possess something).
We are going to their performance tonight.
There indicates place. It is not here. It is there.
The keys can be found over there.
When dealing with theyre versus they are,
theyre always signals the contraction for they
are.
Theyre starting the show.
They are starting the show.