Another Apostrophe Review

This information comes from Purdue University: 
The apostrophe has three uses:

1. to form possessives of nouns
2. to show the omission of letters
3. to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters

Forming Possessives of Nouns

To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:

the boy's hat = the hat of the boy
three days' journey = journey of three days

If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed!

room of the hotel = hotel room
door of the car = car door
leg of the table = table leg

Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules to create one.

• add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):

  the owner's car
  James's hat (James' hat is also acceptable. For plural, proper nouns that are possessive, use an apostrophe after the 's': "The Eggles' presentation was good." The Eggles are a husband and wife consultant team.)

• add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:

  the children's game
  the geese's honking

• add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:

  two cats' toys
  three friends' letters
  the countries' laws

• add 's to the end of compound words:

  my brother-in-law's money

• add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:

  Todd and Anne's apartment

      from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/621/01/
  

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Extra credit opportunity:  Find apostrophes used correctly in published text -- newspapers, magazines, etc. circle the words, and bring me the original or a copy. 

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See also a crib sheet for apostrophe usage  at http://www.istad.org/apostrophes/cribsheet.html
And here's another helpful review -- with funny pictures: http://www.squidoo.com/apostrophe
And some apostrophe errors: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061002/NEWS/610020321/-1/NEWS0206 
 and  Help with Apostrophes

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 Exception to the Rule (Compound Nouns)  from http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/apostrophes_show_possession.htm
Here is another quirk. Some compound nouns (e.g., sister-in-law) do not form their plurals by adding s to the end.  The s is appended to the principal word (i.e., the plural is sisters-in-law). With a noun like this, the possessive form is created by adding 's to the end, regardless of whether it is singular or plural.
 

Singular	Plural
sister-in-law's pond colonel-in-chief's arrival maid of honour's bouquet	sisters-in-law's husbands colonels-in-chief's meeting maids of honour's dresses

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

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Find this at http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html