How to Use Apostrophes Properly: The Definitive Guide | English Grammar & Punctuation Lesson

hello everyone and welcome back to english with lucy today after all of

your requests I'm doing a grammar video and I wanted to talk to you about

something that even I an English teacher struggle with sometimes it's something I

have to use every single day it is punctuation and I have always really

struggled with apostrophes and when and when not to use them apostrophes follow

loads of rules and I see them misused all of the time I know that sometimes I

might misuse them as well but I think today we should just clarify all of our

doubts and use apostrophes properly once and for all I really do think this video

is going to help anybody who needs to write frequently anyone who's going to

take an English exam like the IELTS or the FCE or even the CAE anyone who needs

to write emails frequently even text messages if you want to use correct

grammar throughout text messages school essays native speakers and non-native

speakers whether they already speak English or you're learning English this

video is for absolutely everybody as always I love learning about your

languages and your grammar as well so do comment down below and tell me if you

use apostrophes in your language and if you use them in the same way that we do

in English if you are interested in grammar and would like to learn more

about grammar from private teachers you can try I talky I talky is an online

database which matches teachers to students on that database you can find

native teachers qualified teachers community teachers that will help you

with your conversation as well I recently did a couple of classes with

them to learn Indonesian and as I said that video is coming out it's so

exciting it's just taking a little bit of work and I had an amazing experience

so if you're interested in putting into practice what you learn in this lesson

or in other lessons you can get $10 worth of I talkie credits for free when

you make your first $10 I talk you purchase

so it's like a buy one get one free on I talk you lessons all you have to do is

click on the link in the description box that being said let's get started with

the punctuation lesson so how's this lesson going to be structured well first

I'm going to be talking about the possessive case the genitive case where

apostrophes show possession or a relationship between two things I'm then

going to show you how apostrophes are used in verb pronoun and some noun

contractions and then finally I'll show you some extra miscellaneous

contractions using apostrophes as well let's get started

so let's talk about the possessive case normally it uses apostrophe s but there

are some exceptions this shows possession a relationship between two

things normally with one thing belonging to the other

for example the ball of the dog the dog's ball so how do we use them with

singular nouns well we just add apostrophe s

for example Lucy's car is orange or I ate dinner at Will's house but what

happens if those singular nouns end in s now this is a little bit of a cause for

dispute in the English grammar world but the most accepted form is to add

apostrophe s as well now this is disputed and some people will argue that

we should just add the apostrophe whatever you choose to do make it

consistent choose one of those rules and be consistent with it so at least it

looks like you know what you're doing so I personally like to stick with the

apostrophe s because I think it's the most traditional for example the

actresses role was difficult or Jess's dog is called Mable now with the other

rule where they just put the apostrophe and they don't put the S you will still

treat it in spoken English as if you had that s there so you will still say

Jess's dog is called Mable and the actresses role was difficult even though

the S is not there it's complicated so what about plural nouns well regular

plural nouns usually end in s and for these two show possession you just need

to add an apostrophe to the end of them for example my grandparents house is

cozy or my friends party was amazing now this is why English is a little bit

difficult because if I say these two sentences

my friends party was amazing or my friends party was amazing

the first one is just referring to one friend and the second one is referring

to two friends the apostrophe has changed place but it sounds the same in

spoken English that's why you need to add a bit of context in the words of

Coldplay nobody said it was easy but what about those plural nouns that don't

end in s for example children well liked the singular nouns we just add

apostrophe s so the children's clothing is to your left or the women's party is

starting now these examples are less complicated because the plural and

singular version of those nouns sound different on their own but if you had a

noun like sheep you have one sheep two sheep well it gets a bit more

complicated because as we explained in the last example it sounds the same okay

so we've cleared up where to use apostrophe and where to use apostrophe s

and the general consensus is add apostrophe s to everything apart from

regular plural nouns that end in s and for those we just add the apostrophe one

important thing to note is that sometimes that second noun isn't

necessary you don't have to repeat yourself for example my house is smaller

than my parents house I could just say my house is smaller than my parents the

meaning is clear I'm not trying to say that my house is smaller in size that my

parents are in size I'm trying to say that my house is smaller

my parents house which is bigger the meaning is more or less clear so we

don't have to repeat ourselves with that second house now what happens if one

object has more than one owner what if Ali and I were to buy a cat

together would it be Lucy's and Ali's cat or Lucy and Ali's cat well if we are

both the owner it would be Lucy and Ali's cat because the last person in the

list takes the possessive form however if they are similar items that are owned

individually say I have a cat and Ali has a cat it would be Lucy's and Ali's

cats I have cats Ali has cats Lucy's and Ali's cats okay

so that section on the possessive case should now be clear if it's still not

clear you can re-watch the section and then go on to comment any doubts you

have in the comments below and I will try and help but I also really encourage

you to help out each other as well now let's talk about apostrophes with verb

contractions I have got five of the most common situations in which verb

contractions are used with apostrophes so an apostrophe in a verb contraction

basically shows missing letters for example I am I'm that apostrophe is

showing that missing a and the space it also gives you an indication on

pronunciation example number one verbs plus not for example do not don't cannot

can't could not couldn't should not shouldn't the second example pronouns

and will I will I'll she will she'll they will Vale the third one and this

one can be slightly more complicated pronouns and nouns with to be

for example I am I'm you are your will is wills so if you look at

wills on its own it could be showing the possessive case or it could be showing a

contraction of the verb to be wills watching television

it is wills television one of them is will plus to be and the other one is

showing that the television is the television of will it is wills

television one thing to note is with who who's with the apostrophe is who is who

plus to be who's there who's spelt WH o s e is the possessive form whose bag is

this it's very important to remember that especially when you're writing in

exams it's an incredibly common mistake

especially amongst native speakers I have absolutely made the mistake in the

past but I'm really going to try and not make the mistake in the future number

four is pronouns plus the verb to have I have I've she has she's so she's could

be she is or she has you have to look at the context note though it would not be

confused with the possessive because the possessive would be hers the last one

number five pronouns plus wood or hat for example I had I'd now we would use

this in situations like I'd better go I had better go we wouldn't say I'd a dog

when I was 12 I had a dog when I was 12 and then with would I would do that I do

that in everyday conversation the apostrophe D can be used with nouns like

Oh Mahmoud love that mum would love that or Sophia eat that Sophie would eat that

so those are the five most common contractions now

just like to quickly cover three others that are not so common but still really

important and you will definitely come across them so the first situation is

when we talk about years but we drop a couple of the numbers for example the

summer of 69 we know that we're talking about 1969 but we might just want to say

69 it's more common to use this when describing the 1900s the next situation

is where we drop the words of for example two o'clock originally it was of

or in the surname Donovan it would have likely been of Donovan originally the

last situation is to show pronunciation in dialogue for example come on could be

changed to come on and we'd use an apostrophe in that to give guidance on

how to pronounce it come on is different to come on isn't it right guys that is

it for my grammar lesson on apostrophes I really hope you found it useful I

learnt a great deal putting it together don't forget to check out I talk e that

link is in the description box and also don't forget to connect with me on all

of my social media I've got my facebook my Instagram and my Twitter doing some

really exciting giveaways so it's really worth following me on Instagram I'm not

gonna say any more but there are some very exciting companies that are getting

involved and will definitely help your English and I will see you soon for

another lesson

you