1. © Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe.

2. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. The apostrophe has only a handful of uses, but these uses are very important. A misplaced apostrophe can be annoying — not to mention lonely. 1. to create possessives 2. to omit letters 3. to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters The apostrophe is used:

3. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. The apostrophe is used to create possessive forms for singular and plural nouns. possessive forms Forming Possessives of Nouns To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example: the boy's hat = the hat of the boy three days' journey = journey of three days

4. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. The apostrophe is used to create possessive forms for singular and plural nouns. possessive forms If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed! room of the hotel = hotel room door of the car = car door leg of the table = table leg

5. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. Add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s): the owner's car James's hat (James' hat is also acceptable.

6. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. Add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s: the children's game the geese's honking Add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s: two cats' toys three friends' letters the countries' laws

7. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. To form the possessive of a plural noun, we pluralize first and then add the apostrophe. The Kennedys ’ house The children ’ s playhouse The travelers ’ expectations Notice that with an irregular plural, the apostrophe will come before the “s.”

8. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. Add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object: Todd and Anne's apartment

9. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. A contraction allows us to blend sounds by omitting letters from a verb construction. The apostrophe shows where something is left out. I am a student here = I ’ m a student here. I have been working on the railroad. = I ’ ve been working on the railroad. They could have been great together. = They could ’ ve been great together.

10. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. Forming plurals of lowercase letters Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them).

11. © Capital Community College Objective: I can form singular and plural possessives using an apostrophe. Forming plurals of lowercase letters Here are some examples: p's and q's = midning your p's and q's is a phrase three Macintosh G4s = three of the Macintosh model G4 many &s = many ampersands the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969

12. © Capital Community College THE MIGHTY APOSTROPHE The mighty apostrophe doesn’t mind being used, but it wants to be used wisely. Use it well and it will be there whenever you need it!

13. © Capital Community College 1.Both of the (girl’s/girls’) makeup bags were stolen from the locker room at the gym. 2.Even though Jeff and Doug are big sports fans of most (men’s/mens’) sports, this was their first trip to a (women’s/ womens’) professional basketball game. 3.(Mavis’/Mavis’s) first name was unusual, but one girl from each generation has always had that name for as far back as her family can trace its history. 4.The (birds’/birds) squawks were probably audible within a five-mile radius because up-close they were tremendously loud. Which is correct?