Apostrophes
The apostrophe is used:
 To indicate the possessive.
 To indicate missing letters.
 Sometimes to indicate the structure of unusual words.
To indicate the possessive.
 This is Peter's book.
 This book is Peter's.
 The dog's dinner looks disgusting.
 Diana was the people's princess.
 I tore up the men's shirts.
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.
 They claimed it was theirs.
 But really it was ours.
It's means it is or it has. There's no such word as its'.
To indicate missing letters in the middle of words or phrases.
 You can't have it.
 Don't do that!
 I'd like an ice-cream, please.
 We'd better hurry.
But we don't always use apostrophes:
 15, Elm Rd.
 St Matthew Passion
 Photo is short for photograph.
 It is easier to say CD than Compact Disc.
In the cases where you wouldn't use an apostrophe in the singular, don't use it for the plural:
 I had one photo.
 They had two photos.
 We sell CDs and DVDs.
 I was born in the 1960s.
But we say this CD's broken because it's a short form of this CD is broken.
Apostrophes for omission.
When we speak we often shorten words. Apostrophes are used to show where letters have been missed out or
omitted. For example, instead of saying, “I am” we often say, “I’m.”
Complete the table below by filling in the full form.
Shortened form (with apostrophe)
Didn’t
You’re
I’m
They’re
Wouldn’t
He’s
I’ll
She’ll
Can’t
CHALLENGE: Add the missing apostrophes to the following sentences.
1. “Ive been waiting for over three hours!” she yelled.
2. You wouldnt leave without me, would you?
3. Thats such a funny story.
4. Were going on holiday in December.
5. Shell be sorry that she cut her hair short.
Full form