ENGLISH

PUNCTUATION Apostrophes Commas Semi-colons GRAMMAR Subject-Verb Agreement Verb Tense Pronoun – Antecedent Agreement Subject – Object Pronouns Adjectives and Adverbs SENTENCE STRUCTURE Fragments Run-ons Misplaced modifiers STYLE AND RHETORIC Adding / Deleting Information Organization Wordiness and Redundancy Word Choice and Tone

ENGLISH PUNCTUATION Apostrophes Commas Semi-colons

ENGLISH Plurals— A plural noun is more than one of something (two goats, three fans, etc.). PLURALS ALONE DO NOT USE APOSTROPHES Possessives— Possessive nouns usually DO use an apostrophe. When something is singular (only one) and owns something (possessive), we add an apostrophe, then the letter –s (‘s). Plural Possessives— Plural possessives also use an apostrophe. Since the noun is plural, it already ends in–s (usually), so we add an apostrophe AFTER the –s to show that it is both plural AND possessive. Apostrophes

ENGLISH Apostrophes WHAT THESE QUESTIONS LOOK LIKE Three baseball (3) player’s were on base. 3. A. NO CHANGE B. players’ C. players D. players’s The adjective three tells us that the noun is plural. There is no indication in this sentence that the three players possess anything, so the noun is not possessive. Since it is not possessive, do not add an apostrophe (choice C).

ENGLISH Apostrophes STRATEGIES TO WIN Ask yourself these three questions when determining how to use an apostrophe: 1. Does the noun own/possess anything? If NO, do NOT use an apostrophe. 2. If you answered YES to question one, is the noun alone singular? If so, add –‘s. 3. If the noun is not singular, is it plural? And just to check, does it also own/possess something? If YES, add an apostrophe AFTER the –s. One more thing: It’s= It is. Its= possessive. Get these two straight; ACT usually asks one or two questions on it. Get to know your possessive pronouns and contractions if you don’t already.

ENGLISH Apostrophes

ENGLISH Apostrophes