Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Whose is it?
Use an apostrophe to show that something belongs to somebody, for one owner and for many.
There is a short way of saying that something belongs to somebody. Instead of the bicycle that belongs to Ravi, you write Ravi's bicycle. The apostrophe is what does the work.
One owner
Add an apostrophe and then an s to the owner. The dog's bone. Priya's shoes. The tree's branches.
More than one owner, ending in s
The word already ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after it and nothing more is added. The dogs' bones. The girls' team. The farmers' fields.
More than one owner, not ending in s
A word like children, men, women or people does not end in s, so it is treated as if it were one owner: the women's team, the people's choice.
Find the owner first
Ask whose. The answer to that question is the word the apostrophe attaches to — never the thing being owned.
Worked example
Shorten this: "the fields that belong to the farmers".
Ask whose. The fields belong to the farmers, so farmers is the owner.
The apostrophe always attaches to the owner, so finding it is the first job.
Try it together
Let us write three phrases, one for each rule.
Each answer is the owner with its apostrophe in the right place — one word, except where the step asks for the thing owned as well.
1.One cat owns the basket. Write the missing word: the ____ basket.
Have a go
Which phrase means a park used by many children?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.