Apostrophes

How to Identify

When you look at the answer choices, the main difference will be where they place (or don't place) apostrophes. There may also be difference in the plurality of nouns and pronouns, and differences in using contractions (like "they're" vs. "their"). Most of the time (but not all the time), there will be two words in the answer choices which are varying in their use of apostrophes.

While apostrophes are a type of punctuation, we address these questions separately from "punctuation" questions because when they show up on the SAT, you don't tend to see other types of punctuation changing between the choices.

What it's Testing

There are 3 things that these questions might be testing you on:

Plurality of nouns and pronouns
Use of contractions
Possessiveness

Note that it might be testing you on more than just one of these things, and that you often have to pay attention to the format of not just one but two words in the answer choices.

Example Question

Apostrophes Can Do Two Things

There are two main ways that apostrophes can be used: to indicate possession, or to indicate a contraction (combining two words into one).

Possession

When an apostrophe is used to indicate possession, you generally add an apostrophe followed by an "s" to the end of the word. For example, "the dog's bone" means that the bone belongs to the dog. When the word already ends in and "s" (either because it is plural, or the word just happens to end in "s"), then you just add an apostrophe after the existing "s". For example, if we are talking about a den that belongs to multiple lions, we would say "the lions' den".

It's also important to note that possession doesn't necessarily have to refer to a physical possession. A trait or attribute can also be "possessed" by something. For example, "the house's color" is referring to a characteristic that belongs to the house, not a physical object that the house possesses.

Contractions

Apostrophes can also be used to combine two words into a contraction. For example, "they're" is a contraction of "they" and "are", "it's" is a contraction of "it" and "is", and "you're" is a contraction of "you" and "are", and so on.

One special, more universal contraction, is adding "'s" to the end of a noun to combine it with the word "is". For example, "Steve's going to the movies" is a contraction of "Steve is going to the movies".

Pronouns with apostrophes are always contractions

Possessive pronouns have special forms that don't require an apostrophe (like "his", "her", "my", "your", "their", etc.), so if you see a pronoun with an apostrophe, you know it must be a contraction. Anytime you encounter a contraction, you should read it in your head as two separate words and see if it makes sense.

Analyze Each Word that Differs

As we noticed in the above example, there are often two words that differ between the answer choices. We need to analyze each of these words and narrow it down to the answer choices that use the correct form. We want to pay attention to the following when assessing each word:

Plurality
- Should the word be plural?
Possessiveness
- Should the word be possessive?
Contractions
- Any pronoun with an apostrophe is a contraction
- A noun ending with "'s" might be a contraction for that word plus "is" ("Jane's coming to the party") - but it might also be indicating possession ("Jane's book")
- Read any potential contraction as two separate words, and see if it makes sense in the sentence

Plural and Possessive

If you have determined that the word should be plural and possessive, then assess it as outlined below:

If it's a pronoun
- Look for the plural possessive form of the pronoun (like "their")
- There should be no apostrophe in the word
If it's a noun
- Generally, you add an "s" to the word, then add an apostrophe after the "s" (like "the kids' parents")
- Some nouns have special plural forms that don't end in an "s" (like "mice"). In these cases, add an apostrophe then an "s" to the end of the word (like "the mice's home").

Singular and Possessive

If you have determined that the word should be singular and possessive, then assess it as outlined below:

If it's a pronoun
- Look for the appropriate singular possessive form of the pronoun (like "his", "her", "my", "its", etc.)
- There should be no apostrophe in the word
If it's a noun
- Generally, you add an apostrophe then an "s" to the end of the word (like "dog's bone")
- If the noun already ends in an "s", then you just add an apostrophe to the end of the word (like "the octopus' tentacles")

Plural and Not Possessive

If you have determined that the word should be plural and not possessive, then assess it as outlined below:

No apostrophe
- If it's not possessive and it's not a contraction, then there should be no apostrophe in the word
If it's a pronoun
- Look for the appropriate nonpossessive plural form of the pronoun (like "they", "we", "them", etc.)
If it's a noun
- Generally, to make a noun plural, you simply add an "s" to the end of the word ("the dogs went on a walk")
- Some nouns have special plural forms that don't end in an "s" (like "mice"). In these cases, you don't need to add an "s", you just need the right plural form of the word ("the mice evaded the cat")

Singular and Not Possessive

If you have determined that the word should be singular and not possessive, then assess it as outlined below:

There should be no apostrophe
If it's a pronoun, look for the appropriate nonpossessive singular form of the pronoun (like "he", "she", "it", "me", etc.)
If it's a noun, then you don't want to add an "s" to the end of the word
- If the noun already ends in an "s", then keep the "s" there ("the octopus wiggled its tentacles")