Using apostrophes for contraction, singular possession and plural possession | Exit Quiz | Oak National Academy

Which of the following can an apostrophe be used to show?

• contraction

• correction

• possession

• position

Answer explanation

Contraction is joining words together to make a shorter, contracted form; possession is showing who or what a noun belongs to.

Which sentence below uses both apostrophes for contraction correctly?

• They'd told us it was'nt ready yet.

• They'd told us it wasn't ready yet.

• Theyd' told us it wasn't ready yet.

Answer explanation

'They'd' is a contraction of 'they had' and 'wasn't' is a contraction of 'was not'.

Which words in this sentence could be contracted using an apostrophe? 'We should have given it to him, but he had told us to wait.'

• given it

• should have

• he had

• told us

Answer explanation

These would be contracted to make 'should've' and 'he'd'.

Match each 'possession' idea to the sentence that uses it. Each sentence uses an apostrophe for singular possession.

• an opinion belonging to Sam

• We respected Lucas' beliefs.

• personality belonging to Jun

• We all dislike Alex's neighbour because he is rude to us.

• beliefs belonging to Lucas

• I disagreed with Sam's opinion.

• a neighbour belonging to Alex

• Because I like Jun's personality, we're good friends.

Answer explanation

When a singular noun (like 'Sam') 'owns' another noun, we use 's to show possession. Except if the singular noun ends in 's' (like 'Lucas'), where we write s'.

Which sentence correctly uses the apostrophe for plural possession for the idea 'the tired passengers belonging to the ships'?

• The ships' tired passenger's got off at the port.

• The ships' tired passengers got off at the port.

• The ship's tired passengers got off at the port.

Answer explanation

When a plural noun ends in 's' (ships), we simply add the apostrophe after the 's' to show plural possession.

Tick the sentences that use an apostrophe for plural possession correctly.

• The childrens' appalling behaviour shocked Mrs Begum.

• The children's appalling behaviour shocked Mrs Begum.

• The people's huge sacrifices made all the difference.

• The persons' huge sacrifices made all the difference.

Answer explanation

When a plural noun does not end in 's' (like these examples), we add 's to show plural possession. The apostrophe goes before the 's' in these cases.