English · Apostrophes: Contraction or Possession
Apostrophe Lens
Flip the tile, then drag the lens across the gap and READ what comes out. Lock it in only once the sentence you can see actually works.
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Why this works
The two forms can sound alike, so read the whole sentence. For a contraction, expand the apostrophe form into the missing words that fit the sentence: "it's" can mean "it is" or "it has", and "who's" can mean "who is" or "who has". your and you're, whose and who's, their and they're, and its and it's: in these examples, the apostrophe forms are contractions and the plain forms are possessives. For a possessive form, ask whose thing or person the whole noun phrase refers to: "your boots" are the boots belonging to you; "its enormous shadow" is the shadow belonging to the lighthouse; "whose spare binoculars these were" asks who they belonged to. A possessive determiner can come before describing words, so check the whole noun phrase, not only the next word.
Helping a child through Apostrophe Lens
Hints, least revealing first
- Read the whole sentence. If the apostrophe form expands into words that make sense, it is a contraction in that sentence.
- The apostrophe in these contractions marks missing letters, as in you are becoming you’re.
- For a possessive form, ask whose thing the whole noun phrase refers to. Describing words can come between the possessive form and its noun, as in its enormous shadow.
2 11+ skills this exercise practises
Each of these has its own page, with a worked example on it. 1 of the 2 names the mistake that skill attracts.
- Distinguish contraction and possessionChoose between a possessive form and a contraction in one sentence.
- Mark possessionPlace an apostrophe for singular or plural possession.
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