| 
Definition
 The apostrophe is a raised comma – like this ( ' ).
It is used for two different reasons.
First - when something belongs to somebody.
Second - when a letter has been missed out of a word.
EXAMPLES
Belonging |
Missing letter |
My friend's house |
There's nobody here |
The girl's dress |
Where's Sharon? |
Anybody's guess |
Don't bother me! |
USE
We
can write The sweater of my friend or My friend's sweater.
This
is when something 'belongs' to someone.
The
apostrophe shows who it belongs to.
We
can also write It is a lovely day or It's a lovely day.
This
is when two words [it and is] are merged.
The
apostrophe is used to show the missing letter.
Belonging
When
something belongs to somebody, you use the apostrophe, followed
by the letter 's':
the boy's coat
my sister's skirt
When
there is more than one person, you put the apostrophe after the
final 's':
the girls' bicycles my cousins'
parents
When names end
with a letter 's', you can use either:
James' skateboard
James's skateboard
The
apostrophe is never used with these terms:
his hers its ours yours theirs
Missing letters
We
could write - I have always liked chocolate.
But
we could also write I've always liked chocolate.
The
apostrophe is used to show the missing letters in 'have'.
The
is more information on this in Contractions.
There
are plenty of other examples: - I'm (I am) going to win this game!
- He's (He is) a bit of a drip.
- You're (You are) not as tall as me.
Can
you see the difference between these two examples?
- It's starting to rain. [It is]
- The sun has got its hat on! [belonging to it]
NB! There
is no such thing as its' |
