18 Mar 2012
This week students have been focussing on possessive apostrophes in class.
To indicate the possessive
- This is Collin's book.
- This book is Ivan's.
- The dog's dinner looks disgusting.
- Diana was the people's princess.
- tore up the men's shirts.
- One should choose one's words carefully.
- It is everyone's duty to protest.
- It is no-one's responsibility.
Personal pronouns (words like I, you, he, she, it, we, they) indicate the possessive by becoming a whole new word. These new words are already possessive, so they don't need an apostrophe: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs. Note that none of them has an apostrophe.
-
The house is yours.
-
The dog broke its leg.
-
She said the book was hers.
-
They claimed it was theirs.
-
But really it was ours.
Check out this You Tube clip on apostrophes
