Two jobs for one letter
You already know that adding s can mean more than one.
“two cats”
Now you know that adding s can also mean owning.
“the cat’s bowl”
Same letter doing two different jobs. The apostrophe is what tells them apart.
Which one is it?
| Written | What it means |
|---|---|
| two cats | more than one cat |
| the cat’s bowl | a bowl belonging to one cat |
| six kites | more than one kite |
| Ava’s kite | a kite belonging to Ava |
No apostrophe means more than one. An apostrophe means somebody owns something.
A test that works every time
Ask yourself: does something come right after it that the first word owns?
In “the cat’s bowl” the word “bowl” comes right after, and the cat owns it. So the mark belongs there.
In “two cats ran” the word “ran” comes right after, and nobody owns a “ran”. So no mark.
Both at once
A sentence can hold one of each.
“Ava’s cats sat on the step.”
“Ava’s” has a mark because Ava owns them. “cats” has no mark because it just means more than one cat.
Read that one twice. It is the whole course in a single sentence.
A mistake to watch for
Putting an apostrophe in a plain plural is the most common punctuation mistake there is, and grown-ups make it constantly on signs and menus.
“We sell apple’s.” is wrong. Nobody owns anything there.
“We sell apples.” is right.
Your turn
Say more than one or owns something.
- “six ducks”
- “the duck’s pond”
- “Leo’s cup”
- “three cups”
Check your answers
- More than one.
- Owns something.
- Owns something.
- More than one.
Remember
- No apostrophe means more than one.
- An apostrophe means somebody owns something.
- Check whether the next word is the thing being owned.