An apostrophe joins verb forms and shows ownership of titles/names.

Fusion

An apostrophe often joins a subject to a verb (in a neutral-informal style) by replacing the first 1 or 2 letters of the forms am/is/has/have/them. It also splices the particle not in negative verbs.

I'vedoneit! - I did it!

Youcan'tturnlefthere – You can’t turn left here

Another increasingly popular fusion is letter replacement. g in informal ending – ing .

Will ya stop talkin', hah? - Youshut up, A?

Possession

‘ s is placed immediately after the owner of the next noun (group of nouns).

Jen'snewjobisexciting – exciting New job Jen encourages her

John's shirt is blue – ShirtJonah- blue

The men’s suits are black – Suitsthosemen- black

In regular plural possessives (already with - s) the apostrophe does not require extra in this case s. They are pronounced the same way as single possessives - just the apostrophe is moved one letter further.

The horse’s hay is damp – HayForhorsesgot wet

The horses’ hay is damp – HayForhorsesgot wet

However, to names with – s added at the end ‘ s with pronunciation.

It'sCharles'sbirthday – It's Charles' birthday

Control

With one possession by several owners, an apostrophe is placed only after the last one.

JohnandJen'shouse – John and Jen's house

With individual holdings, the apostrophe refers to each owner.

John’s and Jen’s houses are on the same street – HousesJonahAndJenare worthon1st street

English Joke

Benny is almost 32 years old. All his friends are now married, but Benny just dates and dates.
Finally, his friend asks him, “What’s the matter, Benny? Are you looking for the perfect woman? Are you really that fussy? Surely you can find someone who suits you?”
“No I just can’t,” Benny replies. “I meet many nice girls, but as soon as I bring them home to meet my parents, my mother doesn’t like them. So I keep on looking!”
“Listen,” his friend suggests, “why don’t you find a girl who’s just like your mother?”
Many weeks go by and again Benny and his friend get together.
“So, have you found the perfect girl? One that’s just like your mother?”
Benny shrugs his shoulders, “Yes, I found one just like mum.” Mum loved her right from the start and they have become good friends.”
“So, do I owe you a Mazel Tov? Are you and this girl engaged yet?”
“I'm afraid not. My father can’t stand her!”

Looking at your computer keyboard, you may have thought about the apostrophe - and you seem to have seen it all the time among all the quotation marks and dashes, and it’s probably a necessary thing - but to use it in real life almost never had to. Just like MS Access in MS Office. Today we will talk in more detail about this “single quote” - especially since in English language she plays a prominent role.

I’ll immediately make a reservation that from the point of view of the Russian language, calling an apostrophe a punctuation mark is incorrect - punctuation marks separate words in a sentence, and an apostrophe (together with a hyphen and an accent mark) is used to form words, therefore it belongs to a completely different group. However, in the English language there are no such strictures - there, almost everything that is not a letter can be safely called a punctuation mark. So let's not dwell on formalities and move on to the use of apostrophe in English.

An apostrophe when abbreviating one or more letters

Let's start with a simple one - using an apostrophe when one or more letters are “lost” from a word. Even if you are just starting to learn a language, you have probably already noticed the ubiquitous I’m, you’ll, don’t, can’t. Or even something like shouldn’t’ve, although for the first couple of years of studying English I would cross to the other side of the street at the sight of such a monster. Explanations of such abbreviations can be found in any textbook: I’m = I am, you’ll = you will, don’t = do not, and so on. Even the terrible shouldn’t’ve turns out to be a strict but fair should not have, so there’s nothing special to be afraid of.

I'll be back. I'll come back. (Terminator).

So case one: where a letter or even part of a word is abbreviated, especially with pronouns or modal verbs- put an apostrophe. Let's continue, it will be more interesting.

Possessive

The next case of using an apostrophe is the formation of a possessive case, possessive case. A possessive is one that shows ownership: to whom what you are talking about belongs or belongs.

If you are now frantically turning over the cases of the Russian language in your head, trying to remember which one is possessive, relax, formally there is no such thing in Russian. In fact, the role of the possessive case is played by the genitive: the house of (whose?) Vasya/Petya/Masha, in form coincides precisely with the (whom/what?) genitive case.

So in English apostrophe needed to form the pocative case, in other words, to indicate ownership. This is done as follows: simply add an apostrophe and the letter s to the noun:

This is Jack's house. This is Jack's house.
One man's trash is another man's treasure. What is one man's trash is another man's treasure. (literally “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”)

Please note that “possession” does not necessarily have to mean “I bought it, now it’s mine,” but rather in the sense of “relates to,” that is, in the broad sense of the word. There is no difference here with the Russian language - “ White sun Deserts” is not at all about the fact that the desert has taken over the sun, and the heroes of “Pertrov and Vasechkin’s Vacation” did not become the owners of the summer break from their studies.

Hey, look. This is John's school. Look, this is John's school (it is unlikely that John owns educational institution, most likely, he is just studying there).
This is my sister’s husband. This is my sister's husband (not that he belongs to her).

Difficulty #1. None of this applies to pronouns.

Exactly. I hope that you have already memorized possessive pronouns at school: I – my, you – your, he – his and so on. Therefore, there will be no difficulties here - in none of them are apostrophes needed at all. Particularly insidious in this sense is the pronoun its ( Dog wags its tail. The dog wags its tail) – no, no, but somewhere you’ll want to write it as it’s. The problem is that it’s = it is, and is used in completely different cases, using it to mean “belonging to it” would be completely incorrect.

By the way, confusing its/it’s, as well as your/you’re, their/they’re, is one of the most common mistakes that native speakers themselves make. An excellent motivation to understand this topic properly in order to show off in front of an American or Englishman on occasion. We will definitely look at this topic in more detail in a future article. For now, let’s remember: no apostrophes in possessive pronouns.

Difficulty #2. What about the plural?

Do you still remember in English? That's right, by adding an s at the end of the word. What happens - both belonging to something and multiplicity are formed in the same way? What a disaster! And if you need to say that something is plural belongs to someone or something? Write s twice? No, there is no need for a double s, but there is a rule: the first s of the plural remains, then an apostrophe is added to indicate ownership and... everything: dogs' (relating to dogs), houses' (relating to houses), etc. .

That is, how is it all? It will sound the same! After all, when you talk to a living person, subtitles don’t appear in the air; you can’t tell between a “boy’s toy” and a “boys’ toy”!

What if several such possessives come one after another? Here's a slightly exaggerated but grammatically perfect example:

My sister's friend's money– my sister’s friend’s money
My sister's friends' money– money from my sister’s friends
My sisters’ friend’s money– my sisters’ friend’s money
My sisters’ friends’ money– money from my sisters’ friends

And indeed, all four options sound exactly the same. The solution to this problem is that there is no solution. You'll just have to come to terms with this. On the other hand, it's not that scary. In real life, situations where the plural and the possessive case, combined, are taken out of context and attack you from around the corner, are rare.

No apostrophe needed: plural

To close the gestalt with the use of apostrophes, let's once again mention the plurality of nouns. If you're just pluralizing nouns (apples, people, planets) you don't need an apostrophe at all. Dogs - dogs, cats - cats, pets - domestic animals. Even if a noun ends with a vowel, this is not a reason to add an apostrophe to it: tomatoes - tomatoes, bananas - bananas. But adding an apostrophe in this case is another popular mistake of native speakers, as well as a reason for disappointment of the guardians of the purity of the English language.

But also to this simple rule There may be exceptions. Some words used in the plural can confuse the reader, so they can be written with an apostrophe. These are, for example, individual letters or words - in the case when you mean letters or words, and not the ideas that they express.

Dot the i’s and cross the t’s – Dot the i’s (and cross all the t’s). When I was little, I still couldn’t understand the meaning of dotting the “i’s.” Firstly, all the “and” will then change to “th”, and secondly, what is at the top of the “th” is not exactly a dot, but rather a squiggle. All the i's were dotted when I learned about the English equivalent of this saying – the crossed t's and dotted i's really clarified things.
No but's no if's- no excuses. Literally - no “buts”, no “ifs”.

So, the apostrophe is a rare guest in the Russian language, increasingly appearing in translated books - be it the adventures of d'Artagnan or the stories of O'Henry. The English language is another matter - there the apostrophe will appear in almost every sentence. But don’t be scared: if you don’t get into the subtleties, the rules for using apostrophes are quite simple:

So, an apostrophe is needed if:
lost letter: I'm, he'll, it's
want to say that something belongs to someone: John's house
belongs to the plural: boys' mother

But, an apostrophe is not needed if it is:
regular plural: dogs
possessive pronoun: its

What do we know about the apostrophe, other than that it is in the English language? Let's be honest, it's practically nothing. This topic is not explained in textbooks, so many people have rather fragmented knowledge of how to use an apostrophe. The apostrophe is used not only in English, but in many languages. For example, in Russian we encounter it in proper names of foreign origin, to separate the letters O and D (Joan of Arc, O'Neill) and in cases where a word written in foreign language a Russian ending is added: emails, HRs - most often this is slang for social networks and the Internet.

In Ukrainian and Belarusian, the apostrophe replaces the hard sign and performs a purely phonetic dividing function.

In English, the apostrophe has more functions and meanings. Therefore, accustomed to the apostrophe in phonetic roles, we often place the apostrophe at random, without fully understanding why.

In fact, there are no special tricks in using the apostrophe. The apostrophe has two main functions in English:
1. Indicate ownership (answer to the question Whose?)
2. In abbreviations (show that something is missing in a word or phrase)

Let's start with these functions, and also look at other uses and exceptions. There will be a lot of interesting and useful things.

Affiliation

Apostrophe is a spelling expression of the possessive case ( Possessive Case). When we add an apostrophe and S to a noun in writing, the meaning of the word and part of speech changes: it was a noun - it became an adjective that answers the question Whose? and indicates that something belongs to someone.

To most singular nouns and proper nouns, an apostrophe is added without any changes:

A boy - a boy’s hat
a woman - a woman’s bag
Ann - Ann's dog

It would seem that everything is simple, but the formation of the possessive case has its own characteristics, difficulties and questions. For example, how do you add an apostrophe S if there is already a plural ending S? When should you add an apostrophe S, and when should you just add an apostrophe? If there are two nouns, which one should you add an apostrophe and S to? What about pronunciation? What's with the articles?

Here we will not dwell on the nuances of the possessive case, because I talked about them in detail in the material. After you finish reading this article, you can go on, figure it out and find answers to all the questions about Possessive Case.

Apostrophe with time indicators

In Russian we say “weekly”, “annual”, “three-monthly”, that is, we form adjectives from the time indicator. In English this is also possible, with the participation of an apostrophe.

The apostrophe and S are added to tense indicators, which become adjectives and answer the question ‘Whose?’, although for us it makes more sense to phrase the question as ‘Which?’:

Today - today’s weather (today’s weather)
three hours - three hours’ delay (three-hour delay)
one week - one week’s holiday (weekly vacation)
two months - two months’ salary (two months’ salary)

Essentially this is special case using Possessive Case. Please note that when adding, the same rules apply as when forming the possessive case: if there is already an S, only an apostrophe is added. I would like to emphasize once again that all the features of the possessive case and, accordingly, the use of an apostrophe with it, are set out point by point in the article.

Abbreviation and skipping

An apostrophe is a sign of contraction. Some authors distinguish separately between contraction and omission. I think this division is quite reasonable. Let's look at the differences between contraction and omission.

Abbreviation refers to the omission from the pronunciation of one or more sounds when combining two words. The English language is full of auxiliary verbs - function words that are often shortened in speech and not fully pronounced. To indicate these contractions in writing, you need an apostrophe. You are familiar with the examples:

It is - it's
he has - he's
we had - we'd
they would - they'd

You will find a table of the most popular abbreviations of auxiliary verbs in the material on our website. It's not just auxiliary verbs that are shortened. Often in spoken English, in slang expressions, individual letters are missed in one word or in combinations of words. In speech, these letters are “swallowed” (that’s why it’s sometimes so difficult to understand English speech), and in writing these gaps are filled with an apostrophe:

Rock and roll - rock'n'roll
because - 'cause
of the clock - o’clock

Apostrophe to abbreviate dates

The apostrophe is used for abbreviations in dates. In this regard, there are different approaches to writing dates. Common spelling: the 1990s. You can find the 1990"s. Such options are also acceptable and often occur: the "90s and the 90"s. However, writing the "90"s with two apostrophes will look strange. Sometimes, when indicating a specific year, the first two digits are not written, when you can understand from the context what century we are talking about:

The Soviet Union collapsed in "91.

You will learn how to talk about times and dates in English from the article.

Proper names and transliteration

The apostrophe is typical of Irish surnames, surnames with an O at the beginning:

O'Neil, O'Kelly

In words and names of non-English origin that are transliterated into English, for example, from Arabic and other languages, you can find apostrophes that preserve the sound of the word. Read more about transliteration from Russian to English.

Mistakes when using apostrophe (and a few exceptions)

1. The apostrophe is not used for education. The ending S/ES works here without the apostrophe.

However, note that the apostrophe comes into play when you need to form the plural form of words that are not typically nouns. For example, an apostrophe with letter names:

Let’s dot i"s and cross t"s - let’s dot the “i”s
My d’s look like a’s - my letters d look like letters a

An apostrophe is used with plural names:

2. With possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives ( yours, hers, his, its, ours, theirs) apostrophe is not used, although they also indicate ownership. If you have forgotten the difference between Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns - I explained everything clearly with examples.

3. Its or it’s - very common mistake, which occurs even on high levels. Both options exist in English. To understand whether an apostrophe is needed or not, we think about the function: is it an accessory or an abbreviation?
Its without an apostrophe is an accessory. Its is a possessive adjective. There is a pronoun it, which denotes animals and inanimate objects. And if “it” belongs to something, then we talk about it using the word its (without an apostrophe):

A dog is looking for its bone.
A cat is cleaning its paws.
Paris is famous for its museums.

It’s is short for it is or it has:

It's so hot in the room. - It is so hot in the room.
It's a nice present. - It is a nice present.
It's been a long journey. - It has been a long journey.

How to understand it is or it has? After it is comes an adjective or noun, and after it has comes the third form of the verb, because it is .

By the way, the pronoun it as a subject is a rather interesting aspect of the English language. Many sentences begin with it, which is not the case in Russian, so in order to construct English sentences correctly, it is important to understand the essence of the subject it. It happens also. I have explained these two topics in detail in blog articles. I recommend going and studying.

Let's return to the apostrophe and summarize. The apostrophe in English is used:
- to indicate ownership (Possessive Case) - in abbreviations and omissions (auxiliary verbs, letters in words, dates)
- in proper names and when transliterating from other languages
- to denote the plural of words that are not usually used as nouns (names of letters and numbers)

I hope this material helped you dot the i's (dot i"s and cross t"s) and understand how and when to use an apostrophe in English. I would like to remind you that ENGINFORM is open for enrollment in both English and English.

We teach English via Skype using individually designed programs, at a time convenient for you, we focus on speaking and writing, analyze mistakes and analyze the nuances of English that are not covered in textbooks.

To try and find out how learning goes, sign up for a free introductory lesson via Skype at the bottom of this page and start learning English regularly and effectively.
Good luck in conquering English!

Endings -es and -s are quite common in English. Every English learner needs to understand the rules for using the above endings.

This article will help you quickly and easily understand the essence of this grammatical material. So, the ending -s can serve:

1) indicator 3 l. units part of the verb in;
2) sign;
3) an indicator of the possessive case in nouns;
4) reduction.

Rules for using endings -s/-es have their own specifics. IN affirmative form third party singular Most often, an ending is added to the verb -s, BUT after root bases on -sh, -ss, -o etc. (see rule below) we use the ending - es. For example,

Pass – passes;
Kiss – kisses;
Finish – finishes;
Wash – washes;
Do – does;
Go – goes.

Ending -s in Present Simple

We use the present simple to express regular actions or constant situations. Ending -s in third person singular h. (he, she, it) in English verb tense Present Simple should be added in cases where the subject matches the pronouns "he", "she" or "it".

Rules for writing verbs in the third person singular in the Present Simple

If the verb ends in –ss, sh, ch, x, o– then the ending is added -es .

I always wash up at home.
He always wash es up at home.

If the word has an ending to the consonant and the following one -y, then -y changes to -i plus is added -es .

I sometimes cry.
Baby sometimes cr ies.

If the last letter of the verb is a vowel -y, then it will only follow -s .

I often play with this toy ship in the afternoon.
Alla often play s with this toy ship in the afternoon.

Reading verb endings in the third person singular

Remember: In negative and interrogative forms where an auxiliary verb is used does(not), the main verb has no endings -s, -es .

Does she sing every day?
Ann doesn't go to that college.

Don't forget about the spelling of the verbs to have and . If these verbs are in the third person singular, then they change dramatically. This can be seen in the following examples:

Daddy has much money.
Jane is tired of doing numerous exercises.

Ending -s in nouns

Ending -s occurs not only in verbs, but also in nouns. In the case of nouns, similar endings, as a rule, occur in the plural or in the possessive case. If we are talking about people and animals in the possessive case, then we use ’ s in the case of one actor.

This is the girl’ s doll. – This is a girl’s doll.
The cat' s tail is long. - The cat's tail is long.

But should be used s' in case two or more are involved characters, people or animals.

These are the boys s' boots. - These are boys' boots.

In English there are exception nouns that create the possessive case in the following way:

Those are the men 's hats. - Those are men's hats.

For a complete list of such exceptions, see.

Abbreviations with 's

And finally 's can be not only an indicator of the possessive case, but also an abbreviation. For example:

it is = it's
that is = that's
let us = let's
How long has it been? = How long has it been?

Other abbreviations can be studied in more detail and.

There are several in English distinctive features. One of them is the apostrophe. This small sign sometimes becomes a big problem for students, as many people confuse when to put an apostrophe and when not to.

Today we will understand its use once and for all. In the article you will learn:

• using an apostrophe to indicate ownership

What is an apostrophe in English?

Apostrophe is a superscript comma (").

Although we don't use this sign in Russian, I think you've probably seen it. Many foreign names are abbreviated with an apostrophe. For example: d'Artognan instead of de Artognan.

The apostrophe in English is used in 2 cases that can be easily remembered:

1. To show ownership

2. To indicate a gap when abbreviating words

Let's look at each of these use cases in detail.

Using an apostrophe to indicate ownership

We use an apostrophe to show the ownership of an object/person. To do this we just need to add "s to the word that names the owner.

To test ourselves, we can ask questions to such a word: whose?, whose?, whose?, whose?. For example: (whose?) Tom’s computer, (whose?) sister’s dress, (whose?) dog’s ball.

Examples of using apostrophe:

Give me Ann 's copybook.
Give me Anna's notebook.

This is my parent "s car.
This is my parents' car.

I took my friend 's phone.
I took a friend's phone.

Books lie on teacher ’ s desk.
The books are on the teacher's desk.

Hey his sister 's cookies.
He ate his sister's cookies.

When else is an apostrophe used in English?

There are also several nuances to this rule that you need to remember:

1. Owners are multiple people/animals.

In this case, to the word that denotes them (it will be plural), we simply add an apostrophe (") without the letter s . After all, we have already added the ending -s to such words to form the plural form (cat - cats - cats", girl - girls - girls", sister - sisters - sisters", friend - friends - friends").

However, if the word is not formed according to the rules (you can read about such exceptions), then we add "s:

2. Two owners

For example: mother and father, Tom and Peter, Mary and Jane.

There are two options for adding an apostrophe here.

• One item belongs to two people

We add "s to last word: mother and father's, Tom and Peter's, Mary and Jane's

Mother and father "s car stays in garage.
Mom and dad's car is in the garage. ( It's about about one car that belongs to two people)

Tom and Mary "s house is big.
Tom and Mary's house is big. (We are talking about the same house owned by both Tom and Mary)

• Each owner has his own item that belongs to him

We add "s to each word: mother"s and father"s, Tom"s and Peter"s, Mary"s and Jane"s

Mother "s and father "s cars stay in garage.
Mom and dad's cars are in the garage. (We are talking about two cars: one belongs to mom, the other to dad)

Tom 's and Mary "s houses are big.
Tom and Mary's houses are large. (We are talking about two different houses that have different owners)

Apostrophe with possessive pronouns in English

We don't add "s to possessive pronouns (her/hers, your/yours, their/theirs), despite the fact that they answer the questions: whose?, whose?, whose?.

Incorrect: She lost her "s pen.
Correct: She lost her pen.

Using an apostrophe to shorten English words

In English we can abbreviate some words. In such cases, we put an apostrophe (") in place of missing letters.

Here are the main accepted abbreviations:

I am = I"m
You are = you're
He is = he's
I have = I've
I would = I'd
I will = I'll
not = n't

Examples:

He's studying now.
He is studying now.

We're ready.
We are ready.

I"m calling him.
I call him.

They can't leave.
They can't leave.

I'll translate.
I will translate.

So, an apostrophe is a sign in the form of a superscript comma ("). It is used to show ownership or for abbreviation. Now let's practice using it in practice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. This is my friends' wedding.
2. Take Tom's car.
3. This is my dog's ball.
4. We will live in her parents' house.
5. Bring Kate and Peter's laptops.
6. He ate Dasha’s apple.
7. Peter's friends will arrive tomorrow.
8. John and Mary's phones are on the table.

Leave your answers in the comments below the article.