0:00 Hi everybody.
0:01 My name is Alicia.
0:02 In this lesson, we're going to look at how to use apostrophes.
0:06 Let's get started.
0:07 Okay, in this lesson,
0:09 I want to talk about two basic uses of the apostrophe.
0:13 The things I'm going to talk about in this lesson will cover most basic
0:17 uses of the apostrophe.
0:19 There are two categories of use.
0:22 We're going to look at showing possession,
0:24 and we're going to look at contractions to show the missing letters in words.
0:30 Let's start by showing possession with apostrophes.
0:34 So, to show possession with an apostrophe,
0:37 you can use apostrophe s after a noun.
0:41 So, this expresses that something belongs to the noun.
0:46 So, let's look at some very basic examples of this.
0:50 First, my teacher's pen.
0:53 In this example, we have my teacher
0:55 as the noun that we have to show possession for.
0:59 We have the apostrophe here, and then it's followed by s.
1:03 Next is pen.
1:05 This shows that the pen is owned by my teacher.
1:09 We can use apostrophe s to demonstrate this.
1:12 Let's look at the next example.
1:14 His sister's car.
1:16 His sister's car.
1:18 In this sentence, sister is the person owning something, or rather, his sister.
1:24 So, again, apostrophe s shows the ownership in this situation.
1:28 The car is owned by his sister.
1:32 Let's look at the last basic example.
1:34 It's my father's wallet.
1:37 My father's wallet.
1:38 Again, we have apostrophe s after the owner of the object.
1:43 So, here, my father is the owner of the wallet.
1:47 So, we can use apostrophe s to show ownership in this way.
1:51 But, there are some very important rules to keep in mind to make sure
1:55 that you always express this ownership clearly
1:58 and correctly.
2:00 So, let's take a look at two key rules for you to follow.
2:04 Okay.
2:04 First, number one.
2:06 If it's a singular noun,
2:09 so this means if you want to show the possession of something
2:12 that is a singular noun,
2:14 that means just one thing or just one person,
2:17 add apostrophe s to make it plural.
2:21 Okay?
2:22 This is true even if the singular noun ends in s.
2:28 So, this part right here is sometimes confusing even for native speakers.
2:32 You learn sometimes I shouldn't put another s after the noun.
2:36 When should I do that?
2:37 I don't know.
2:37 So, this is the rule.
2:39 So, if it's a singular noun, add apostrophe s to make it plural.
2:43 So, let's look at some examples of this.
2:45 First, the business's plan.
2:48 The business's plan.
2:50 In this situation, business is our noun.
2:54 We want to express something that is owned by the business.
2:59 So, business ends with an s, but it's a singular noun, one business, right?
3:04 We still have to add apostrophe s to make it plural.
3:08 I'm sorry, we still have to add apostrophe s to show ownership.
3:11 This is a singular noun.
3:12 We're not making it plural here.
3:14 The business's plan.
3:15 So, this shows the plan owned by the business.
3:19 Okay?
3:19 Let's look at another example of this.
3:22 His bus's schedule.
3:24 His bus's schedule.
3:25 So, again, bus is a singular noun that ends with s.
3:30 We still have to follow this rule.
3:32 We add apostrophe s after the bus to show ownership.
3:36 So, this schedule belongs to the bus or his bus in this case.
3:41 So, it's some kind of connection we're showing here.
3:44 Here's one more example of this s rule.
3:47 Her dress's color.
3:49 Her dress's color.
3:50 So, again, dress is our singular noun.
3:53 It ends in s.
3:54 We still have to put {apostrophe} s to show ownership.
3:58 So, in this case, the dress doesn't actually own the color, of course,
4:02 but the color is a quality that belongs to the dress.
4:06 So, even if your singular noun ends in s,
4:09 you need to put an {apostrophe} s after it to show possession,
4:12 to show ownership.
4:14 We saw the same thing up here.
4:16 So, these singular nouns do not end in s,
4:19 but we have to follow the same rule.
4:21 So, this one is an easy one, right?
4:23 If you're just talking about one of something, one noun,
4:26 just put {apostrophe} s after it to show ownership.
4:30 Okay, great.
4:31 So, let's continue on to rule number two.
4:33 Rule number two is a little bit trickier than rule number one.
4:36 So, let's take a look.
4:37 Okay, for rule number two, if it's a plural noun,
4:42 so plural means more than one of something.
4:44 If it's a plural noun, use an {apostrophe} after the s.
4:49 That means no additional s after it,
4:51 unless the plural noun does not end in s.
4:55 So, this is kind of tricky.
4:56 Let's break down what this means.
4:58 So, plural nouns, generally, when we create a plural noun,
5:01 we simply add s to the end of the noun to make it plural,
5:04 right?
5:05 Like teacher becomes teachers, right?
5:08 Or sister becomes sisters, or father becomes fathers, right?
5:12 More than one of something.
5:13 We add an s to the end of it.
5:15 So, if it's a plural noun that follows this rule,
5:18 just add an {apostrophe} after the s.
5:20 You don't need to add {apostrophe} plus s, just one {apostrophe}.
5:24 And it's done it's done it's finished it's good.
5:27 Unless, however, there is an exception.
5:29 Unless the plural noun doesn't end in s.
5:32 So, there are some plural nouns that don't end in s, right?
5:35 They're special nouns, right?
5:37 So, we'll see an example of this here.
5:39 So, let's take a look at these kinds of examples
5:42 that we have and break down what's happening.
5:44 So, first one, my parents' house.
5:47 My parents' house.
5:48 So, in this example, my parents is the noun.
5:51 This is the plural noun, two people, parents, right?
5:55 And we have an apostrophe after the s.
5:58 In this situation, there's no extra s after this because it follows this rule.
6:04 So, the plural noun parents, in this case,
6:07 just gets an apostrophe here like this, okay?
6:11 So, my parents' house.
6:12 This shows the house that belongs to my parents, okay?
6:16 Let's look at the next example.
6:18 The next example, our children's grades.
6:21 Our children's grades.
6:23 So, this is an example of the exception here.
6:27 So, children is an example of a plural noun
6:30 that does not end in s,
6:32 right?
6:32 We have one child, two children, right?
6:35 So, this is a plural noun that does not end in s.
6:38 In this situation, we need to use apostrophe s just
6:41 as we did with rule number one,
6:43 right?
6:43 So, in this situation,
6:45 when you have a plural noun that doesn't end in s,
6:47 make sure to add that apostrophe s.
6:49 So, if you want to talk about other things like mice, for example,
6:53 so the mice's something, we need to add that apostrophe s.
6:56 So, this is a good one to keep in mind
6:58 when you're writing a sentence
7:00 that uses those plural nouns
7:02 that are kind of irregular,
7:04 okay?
7:04 Let's go to the last example, the students' party.
7:08 The students' party.
7:09 So, here again, we have a regular plural noun.
7:12 It's just student plus s, right?
7:14 Students.
7:15 We again put the apostrophe after students.
7:18 No additional s because it follows the basic rule right here.
7:22 So, no exception in this case.
7:24 So, keep this one in mind.
7:26 This one requires a little bit more thought.
7:28 Just consider that s at the end.
7:30 Plural noun or singular noun,
7:32 those are kind of the two things it's important to keep in mind with
7:35 this.
7:36 Okay.
7:36 So, this is what I want to talk about for showing possession,
7:40 using apostrophes to show possession.
7:42 Let's go now to part two.
7:44 So, the other part of today's lesson is using apostrophes to show contraction.
7:50 So, a contraction is the short form
7:52 or the reduced form of two words generally.
7:55 So, we use apostrophes to show or to kind of represent missing letters.
8:00 That's one way that you can think of the apostrophe use here.
8:03 So, apostrophes can be used to show the missing letters in words.
8:09 So, what does this mean?
8:10 Let's take a look at some examples.
8:12 For example, when we write do not in the reduced form
8:16 or the contracted form,
8:18 we use this spelling, right?
8:19 Don't. d o n apostrophe t.
8:22 So, you can think of this apostrophe
8:24 as kind of a replacement for the letter that's missing,
8:27 right?
8:27 So, we have do not.
8:29 O is missing here.
8:30 It's kind of like we're showing the O is gone with the apostrophe.
8:34 So, don't.
8:35 Here's another example.
8:36 We are.
8:37 We are becomes we're, right?
8:40 So, again, we have a letter missing.
8:41 In this case, it's the A.
8:43 We are becomes we're.
8:45 So, the apostrophe shows where that letter used to be.
8:49 One more example.
8:51 I am.
8:51 This becomes I'm.
8:53 Again, we have a missing letter.
8:55 The A used to be right here.
8:57 We have an apostrophe there instead.
8:59 So, apostrophes can be used in this way to show
9:02 that letters are missing from a word.
9:04 So, these are extremely extremely common.
9:06 You probably know about these already,
9:08 but I also want to talk about another use that's typically done in books
9:13 and other stories,
9:14 those kinds of things.
9:15 Sometimes, this apostrophe, this missing letter apostrophe is used at the end of a
9:21 word or sometimes even in the middle.
9:23 It's a little bit rare.
9:25 Usually, this is at the end of a word.
9:27 But sometimes, you'll see an apostrophe at the end of a word to express
9:32 a way of speaking.
9:33 So, this kind of sends tends to sound a little more casual
9:37 or sometimes this is used to indicate like a character's certain way of speaking.
9:41 So, let's look at some examples so you can see what I mean here.
9:44 Here's one.
9:45 I'm thinking about what to make for dinner.
9:48 I'm thinking about what to make for dinner.
9:49 So, first we have this contracted form, right?
9:52 The apostrophe here.
9:53 And then we have this thinking, thinking.
9:56 Here, the apostrophe is at the end of the word.
10:00 So, we tend to see this used a lot in ing verbs actually,
10:04 verbs that end in ing to show
10:06 that the g sound is not clearly pronounced.
10:08 So, I'm thinking about what to make for dinner.
10:11 So, this thinking is a little bit different from thinking, right?
10:15 I'm thinking about what to make for dinner would be the standard way to
10:18 say this,
10:19 right?
10:19 But this thinking sounds a little bit more casual.
10:22 People may choose to use this kind of thinking to express a certain kind
10:27 of casual level of speaking,
10:30 or to express a kind of accent, something like that.
10:33 So, that's what this apostrophe at the end of an ing verb means.
10:38 It means that g sound is missing.
10:39 Let's look at another example.
10:41 We've been walking for hours.
10:44 We've been walking for hours.
10:45 So, here again we have this basic contraction, we've have,
10:49 we've been walking for hours.
10:52 So, again, there's this apostrophe at the end of this ing word, right?
10:56 And the g is missing.
10:57 So, the apostrophe is showing us something is missing
11:01 and we've cut the word off early.
11:02 So, walking becomes walking, walking.
11:06 We've been walking for hours.
11:07 So, this expresses a kind of rough or casual manner of speaking.
11:11 One more.
11:12 You're working hard.
11:14 You're working hard.
11:15 You might hear people say this to you at work,
11:17 like your co-workers might make this comment to you.
11:19 You're working hard.
11:21 Again, we have a basic contraction here, you're, you are, right?
11:25 And here, working.
11:27 So, the standard spelling is working with a g at the end.
11:31 We have this apostrophe here that shows something is missing.
11:34 You're working hard.
11:35 So, this sounds kind of more casual,
11:37 a little more friendly than you're working hard, okay?
11:40 So, that's what you might see occasionally.
11:42 Usually, we see this in text like stories and maybe novels,
11:47 maybe short stories or essays, that kind of thing.
11:50 But, oftentimes, um people like to speak this way
11:53 and sometimes they want to text
11:54 that way as well,
11:55 too.
11:55 So, if you see this in like a text message or something,
11:58 that's what this apostrophe at the end of the word means.
12:01 And as I said, you might see it in the middle, I suppose,
12:04 in certain places.
12:05 You might even see it at the very beginning of a word,
12:07 but that's an indicator,
12:09 that's a sign that someone has cut off usually like a letter
12:12 or something like that,
12:13 a very small sound, and they're showing that with the apostrophe.
12:16 Okay, great.
12:17 So, those are the two key points
12:18 that I want to talk about for this lesson.
12:20 We use apostrophes to show possession,
12:23 and we use apostrophes for contractions to show missing letters.
12:26 I want to finish this lesson by covering a very common couple of questions,
12:31 some very common errors, some problem points for learners and for native speakers.
12:36 This question box right here shows them.
12:39 They are the differences between it's with an apostrophe, it's with no apostrophe,
12:44 and whose with an apostrophe s
12:47 and whose h o s e at the end here.
12:50 What is the difference?
12:52 So, let's talk about it's
12:53 and it's first. i t apostrophe s means it is.
12:59 It is. i t no apostrophe s is the possessive.
13:04 So, this is an exception to what I talked about over here.
13:08 Of course, that's like kind of hard for you to remember, I know,
13:11 but thankfully, it's just this one.
13:13 There's only one that you need to remember this exception for.
13:16 So, it's with no apostrophe is the possessive form, okay?
13:21 It is is this it with an apostrophe s at the end.
13:25 So, this is one tricky one to remember.
13:28 Okay?
13:28 Then, the second one is who's who's question.
13:31 So, H I'm sorry,
13:32 w h o apostrophe s means who is who is. w h o s
13:40 e is the possessive.
13:42 So, whose bag is this?
13:44 Right?
13:44 We're asking about someone's possession.
13:46 Whose bag is this?
13:47 Whose marker is this?
13:49 We use this w h o s e word to do that.
13:53 Who's with an apostrophe s means who is?
13:56 Like, who's he talking to?
13:57 Right?
13:58 That's not a question of possession.
14:00 So, these words sound exactly the same when we are speaking, right?
14:04 But, it's important to remember that they are very different on paper.
14:08 So, keep these small differences in mind because they do matter.
14:11 Okay, great.
14:12 So, this is a quick introduction to how to use apostrophes.
14:17 This is a very basic introduction to this very important punctuation mark,
14:20 but these rules will help you in the majority of situations.
14:24 So, keep these in mind.
14:25 Of course, if you have any questions
14:27 or comments or if you want to practice making some apostrophe words,
14:30 feel free to do so in the comment section of this video.
14:33 Also, if you like this lesson,
14:34 don't forget to give it a thumbs up
14:36 and subscribe to this channel
14:37 if you haven't already.
14:38 Also, check us out at englishclass101.com for some other things
14:41 that can help you with your English studies.
14:44 Thanks very much for watching this video
14:45 and I will see you again next time.
14:47 Bye.