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
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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
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