So where do we use apostrophes?

Apostrophes have got to be the most over-used and misunderstood grammatical element of the English language.

Through teaching I have found that children often add them whenever they see an “s” at the end of a word. But I have to say, many native English speakers have exactly the same problem.

So to make it clear, there are 2 ways to use an apostrophe.

First we have contractions. These are where we deliberately shorten a word or phrase and then use an apostrophe to show that letters are missing.

In full	Letters missing	Shortened form
do not	o	don’t
can not	no	can’t
could not	o	couldn’t
let us	u	let’s
that is	i	that’s
would not	o	wouldn’t
they are	a	they’re
they had	ha	they’d
you would	woul	you’d
we had	ha	we’d
you are	a	you’re
I am	a	I’m
was not	o	wasn’t
it is	i	it’s
it has	ha	it’s
what is	i	what’s
my car is there	i	my car’s there
the coat is on the peg	i	the coat’s on the peg
Tom is going out.	i	Tom’s going out.

Then we have possessives. This is when we are referring to something that belongs to someone or a group of people. Ownership is the best way to think of this rule.

If we are referring to one subject and what they own then the apostrophe separates the subject from the final “s”. For example:

One parent and his or her children – the parent‘s children

But if we are talking about multiple subjects then the apostrophe would be after the final “s”. For example:

All parents and all their kids – the parents’ children