Sunday, February 26, 2012

Help with Apostrophes

Student notes on Possessives.doc

Overheads for Possessives(1).doc 



Other information about apostrophes:

Noticing Sentences and Apostrophes

Using Apostrophes to Show Possession

 A Game for Contractions: http://www.vocabulary.co.il/contractions/intermediate/where-does-the-apostrophe-go/ 

and another: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-beat-the-clock-apostrophes

Another game: Possessives or Not?  and Soccer:

http://www.firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/punctuation/apostrophes/interactive/possapos.swf

You could also go to http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy2.htm#apo   and look for the activities and instructions for apostrophes

 Here's what Grammar Girl has to say: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/apostrophe-1.aspx

and

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/apostrophe-plural-grammar-rules.aspx 

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Cool video about apostrophe use:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE0IBPtbY2o

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Important samples:

a.  Do you have a month's supply of pencils?   Notice that the "supply" belongs to the "month" and that because it is just one month, you just add an "'s" to the word "month."

b.  Ms. Dorsey just assigned  us four months' worth of homework.  There's no way we can get it done before school gets out.    The amount of homework belongs to four months.  Because months is already plural with an "s" at the end, you just add an apostrophe to the end.

Contractions: 

c.  In '89 when the big Northern California earthquake struck, I was living in San Jose.  

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More samples:  Notice how apostrophes are used.

This is Ben's book.   (The book belongs to Ben.)

Julie, Sue, and Patty were eating lunch.  Joey ran up and dumped the girls' plates onto the floor.  They weren't happy with him.

It's Presidents' Day today.  It's my dad's birthday as well. 

James's sister put his homework into their brother's backpack. 

James is only one of five brothers in Susan's family.  The boys complain that Susan is always hiding her brothers' belongings. 

We're not going to school today.  I'm going to the zoo instead.

My best friend is Hailey Jones.   She's a great friend.

Hailey Jones's dad owns the zoo. 

I'll be going to the zoo with the Jones family.

The Jones' car is a Hummer.   

The children's favorite place at the zoo is the gorillas' habitat. 

Hailey's brother Sammy was born in '99.

Hailey's and Sammy's rooms are on the third floor of their mansion.  

Their mom's and dad's first names are Florence and Jess.  

Florence and Jess's  bedroom suite takes up the whole  fourth floor of their mansion.  (or) Their mom and dad's bedroom is on the fourth floor.

Hailey's family is going to visit their uncle's home in France this summer.  

Their uncle's name is George Smith. 

Next summer they will visit their aunts' homes in Australia.  

It's a day's journey in a car from one aunt's home to the other's. 

It's three days' journey from there to Brisbane, where Florence grew up.

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