How to use apostrophes in English

I got 8 correct out of 10. I understand the answer but will review. Thank you for your interesting lesson, Jade :)

Happy04

i got 5 correct of 10.i understand the answer but will review . thank you for your interesting lesson.

ram thapa

i have very happy.

ram thapa

I got 90 points!
Pretty interisting lesson! First time I hear about it this way!! I just got it!
Thank yo so much, Jade!!

María Luisa

tu eres bonita

PodGar

Uy, gracias :D

María Luisa

THANKS JADE

mido1985

Interesting topic for a video-lesson Jade, but I have serious reservations about the meaning of the possessive form ‘s.

Does the possessive form ‘S mean that something or somebody really belogs to someone? I doubt it!

The boys’ school is excellent

The idea this statement conveys -I think- is: The school the boys attend is excellent NOT that the school really belongs to them.

Chris’ girlfriend is pretty.

This last statement means that… the girfriend of Chris is pretty NOT that this person really belongs to him, I think.

RSVP

P.S.Thanks for this useful video-lesson Jade.
Have a great weekend!!!

Regino

When we use “belong” like this, we mean in the context of the sentence. We are not talking about ownership in real life. Your examples replacing the apostrophe construction are correct. For example, we call words like "my", "his", etc. “possessive adjectives” — but you can say "my school". This is a possessive, even though you don’t OWN the school. It is a much more general relationship that depends on the context of the sentence.

engVid

Thank you Jade! This lesson was very useful!
Yesterday I was thinking about possessive forms because it was Women’s Day :)
Best wishes and have a nice weekend!

tanya0mikhaylina

Yes that’s a great example of possessive apostropes. Many native speakers get confused and make mistakes with that.

Jade

Jade’s lesson is excellent. Thanks Jade.

haiderhabeeb

thanks ma’am
i am advance English learner and all engvid lesson i like specially your lesson. i have learned may things from engvid yhat will come my hand. it’s a fact we can’t make do without good communication skills. i am not exaggerating.

sonykhan

i tried to listen twice and understand perfectly. really good lesson… ~_~

Kate

It’s quite good,Isnt’?

Hamrawi

Thanks Jade. I could make a sense about that rule. ^^

DAEHEON KANG

I’ve got 10 of 10
It seem that you have a problem with toilets hahaha, I really enjoyed your video

And by the way you’re so gorgeous

scudstorm

Hi Jade,
wanted to aks, which of the following statements is correct: “Tom and my friend Franklin” or “Tom’s and my friend Franklin”

Thanks in advance, Jade!

XFaq

I would say ‘Franklin is a friend of Tom’s and mine.’

Jade

hey teacher, we can say franklin is tom’s friend and mine

Pham Tuan

Really?
‘Tom and my friend Franklin’ Why do you think Tom is a friend of mine?
What does mean Tom’s?
I know you don’t answer that question. Just think about it.
Are you a “teacher”? “also”? Have you thought about going to the therapist?
I’ll do it, if I were you.

aroibas

thank Jade for this important lesson, but i have a question about the first question in the quis:
“Have you met Lizzie before? She’s a friend of __________.”

i thought the answer was Jess because we knew she was a friend of Jess or we can say she’s Jess’s friend
please tell me where’s the point..thanks again.

issaf

There was some confusion with this question, so it has been changed. Jess was also correct in the original version of the question that you saw. Sorry, issaf!

engVid

Thank you very much for this lesson. Could you explain the first question, please?
“Have you met Lizzie before? She’s a friend of __________.”

marinella63

Have you met Lizzie before?She is a friend of Jess’s.
Explanation-Lizzie is a friend of Jess.If you completely understand the Mam’s lecture then it is bed of roses for you.
Answer is Jess’s because Jess is belonging to Lizzie(she is friend) and not more than one so the apostrophe is before letter “S”.

MANISH

mother in law ! what’s mean ?

shineyourlight

Mother in law is someone’s husband’s or wife’s mother.

Katya

thank you :)

shineyourlight

I don’t understand question1 :
” she’s a friend of jess”
or
“she’s a jess’s friend “?
can you explain more ?

trocamxuc

I think you ought to watch the video again. When a name ends with -s (like Jess) you can use the apostrophe in two ways. Either you can say:
1. Jess’ friend
Or
2. Jess’s friend

Jade

I’ve got 7of 10….:(
What I did not understand?

katerinapas1

Some of the rules are tricky to remember. 7 out of 10 is a good score – higher than a lot of native speakers would get. 0:

Jade

Hello Jade,first time to learn from you.I have got 8 out of 10.

chisengakunda@rocketmail.com

I have got 8/10.
Mam,your lesson is informative.
Thank you.

MANISH

9/10. I misunderstood the first one. She’s is a friend of Jess’s. I thought the correct was; she’s is a friend of Jess.

Jorge Pedroso

Both answers were actually correct. We have now adjusted the question. So you got 10/10, Jorge. Sorry for the confusion.

engVid

I want to know more about the answer of first question. Why “She’s is a friend of Jess” is wrong? “Of” also show the possession right?

vonghoangvinh

How to know if the name is Jame or James?
“Jess’s friend” is not the same that “friend of Jess”?

JOAOBASTOS

That’s a good point. Jame is not a name so that is how you know the name ends in -s: ‘James’

Jade

I din’t understand the first one!

Lilian Andrade

In the question #10, it would be appreciated when you explain why the option #3 is wrong.

mfarahat

thanks jade. I got it

mbth20

Hi Jade,

This is another excellent lesson, but I have a doubt. I’ve got 9 out of 10 and the first question seems to be wrong but it doesn’t make sense to me. I choose Jess while the right answer given by the web is Jess’s. Don’t you think there is an error there?

Thank a lot, I like the way you teach. Your e-mail are great, I like very much the way you write them.

Take care.

carlos

Sorry, it should be “thanks” and “e-mails”.

carlos

I’m sorry, it should be “thanks” and “e-mails”.

carlos

Not an error, but Jess was also a correct answer. We have changed the question to remove this problem. Sorry, Carlos.

engVid

Thanks for your quick answer. But I’m still having a doubt, that sentence reminds me things like doble negative,” I don’t have no money”. Could you explain me if the sentence try to tell that she is a friend of somebody who is also a friend of Jess .

Thanks again, you’re all a fantastic team with an excellent website.

carlos

If you say FRIEND OF JESS’S, it is a “double possessive, because of the apostrophe+s and also the OF. But double possessives like this are fine in English. Double negatives are wrong.

engVid

Thanks again, I knew doble negatives are wrong, that’s why I though these ” double possesives” were also wrong. Clear enough, anyway I guess it’s something will not come naturally from me.

carlos

One apostrophe signifies minutes , two apostrophes stand for seconds. What happened between 13’49” and 13’51” ?

kroy

9 out of 10. Thanks Jade. I learned something from your lesson.

suanmei

Thank you for your lesson.

bummia

I got 9 out of 10. Great lesson ! Thanks Jade ! Your accent is so beautiful.

dieguito1975

Thanks for this great lesson :) :) :)
apostrophes in English are also used to denote a missing letter or letters, for example: I can’t instead etc

check out this blog for more lessons
http://goo.gl/ljZPkH

Hicham

Really good, thanks a lot Jade

jeison32

Good.

pafsilipoclub

I got 3 out of 10
:(

khalidalzwaid

I want some help…how can I contact to any of the teacher here…

IAmHaaris

Thank you. Now I understand what apostrophe means…. Like ownership

lolacristina

thank you Jade.now I understand.
But I have some questions.
She’s=she is What is shortening for possession? Jame’s=?
we say Tokyo’s. But we don’t say Japan’s. I think we say japanese.
Am I correct? Please teach me.

reiko kenmotsu

James is a person’s name. The name ends with -s. There is no way to shorten it.

Jade

Thanks, Jade.
I read in Practical English Usage by Machael Swan in 386.8, that
pats: a man’s leg; a table leg
We use the ‘s structure to talk about parts of people’s and animals’ bodies.
a man’s leg an elephant’s trunk a sheep’s heart
But to talk about parts of non-living things, we usually use the noun + noun structure.
a table leg (NOT a table’s leg)
a car door (NOT USUALLY a car’s door).

pereloma

There is enough variation in use that it’s hard to talk about a rule here. It really depends on the context. Sometimes, it’s a simple as certain ways sounding “better” than others. But “better” can change, depending on what country you are in and even the age of the person you are speaking to.

engVid

many thanks for the explanation. thank to all the team of ENGVID. good luck

pereloma

Thank you Jade.

hilasou23

Very nice, I got l0! Thanks Jade!

Janilza

Morning Jade,thank for your teaching I got a 100.God bless you and your loved ones.

chisengakunda@rocketmail.com

Dear Jade,
What is correct, “company’s presentation” or “company presentation” ? The latter sounds better to me, but I’m not sure! the presentation doesn’t BELONG to the company, so, should there be a possessive ‘s ? Thank you!

ntldbs

You always have a choice. This is a question of style, not grammar. You choose which one you think sounds most appropriate for the context you are writing about.

Jade

interesting lesson, thanks Jade !

darshana12

Thank you,Jade.I’m interested to know Why your accent is different from other engvid teachers?

mahroo

Jade is from London. The other teachers are North American.

engVid

Thank you so much for this lesson.
actually I want u to help me to answer this question which is faced me in my midexam the question was:which one is correct:
1-Britain’s economy
2-The economy of britain

Osman As

Thank you for this great video!!! I was needing to improve my knowledge about these grammar rules, and I did!! 10 out 10!
I’m waiting your next lesson video!
Kisses from Spain!

IvanCha

Very useful lesson. Thank you Jade

Luiz Alberto

Hi Jade

When do I use hifen with mother-in-law/mother in law and brother-in-law/brother in law?

audrysilva

You can say it either way. It’s okay.

Jade

5/10 thanks very much Jade.

adalberto75

@Regino: Perhaps this one is a stupid observation, but I’ve heard before about these apostrophes like “Saxon genitive”. It is for this reason that the particular construction means “possession” while, in reality, it’s more like a sort of preposition (like in Latin language).

Strikeiron

Thanks got 60%.

Abdul Qayum

lol pterodactyl :D

Leonardo

i got 90% almost perfect, :D thanks

iamjeh21

Today’s ma’am Jade’s Presentation Are Awesome. Thank You Ma’am Jade!

EdgarStudent

thank you very much jade i´m learning with you…
god bless you

eddier55

Thanks, jade. I love your accent.

fatima311

Thanks Jade

gandalf

Amazing class! Thanks, Jade.

Fernando

This is my first test I have scored 90.Thank you very much

Chutan

NO WAY !!!
How Profitable! :)
But how about this one’s pronunciation ??!!
( Chris’ girlfriend ) ????? Is t: Chris girlfriend ?????
9/10 :(

I’m really looking forward to get the response.
TNX in advance,
:) fatiima!

fatiima8

Sorry…
Some words were left unfortunately.

I meant : Is the pronunciation the same as the writing form ???!!!! Like: Chris girlfriend?!

fatiima8

/kris.iz/

Jade

wow,i got 100
thx jade

gegiajiardiawan

The bag is hers’.
what is wrong with that

lakshmi143

thank uuuuuuuuuuu i got 10/10

sami45

10 of 10.
But the last one makes me confuse a bit, because both James and Jame are names.

radianter

I love your British accent. THANK YOU

Ali-25

Hello Jade,
could you please tell me when the past tense of ‘must’ is ‘had to’ and when it is ‘must have done’ ?
thanks a lot

Ali-25

“Do you know if Mary and Susan’s boyfriend is coming?” because he is the mutual boyfriend…

yzab

Thanks a lot Ms. Jade.
10/10

venuskz

9 out of 10. Why is it “women’s toilet…”? Isn’t it “womens’ toilet..”? :<

vidyaky

Because “women” is already the plural form — all you need is the possessive “‘s”.

engVid Moderator

Thanks Jade, I got 10/10 and this mean I’m a good estudent e you’re a good teacher :D

gabrielli.caruso86

I got 8 correct out of 10. Thanks Jade ;)

atef17

i get 4 :) but i dont care :p i do it for fun !!

GreekGodOfSexAndPleasure

You mean: You’ve got :)

Temelakiev

Learning is fun! :)

LRN-101

Hi Jade,
I have a doubt about the pronunciation

Chris’s and Chris’ are /Kris.iz/, is that all right?
But in boys’ you don’t pronounce the possessive s.

Marcusme

Thanks teacher

fco10

I got 10 out of 10. Actually it’s pretty easy

Temelakiev

Thank you very much for your help. This page is a great resource to improve all the skills. I´ve passed for the first time with 100%. Thanks again and I´ll keep looking your classes.

tomsayer81

Thank you very much!

khunkoe

Thanks, Jade. This is a very informative lesson.

andresfuv

I got 10 out of 10 BUT I am really confused about question 5 as I kind of guess it .

Can you explain it for me please, Jade?

Cheerz

quocduy.hua@hotmail.com

Hello Jude, and guys! hope you are doing well!
I just subscribed and this is the first test I took.

Thanks to Jude it went great, the videos are so easy to understand.
I haven not been practicing any grammar rules since I graduated from High School, so this is a really fun y to do it.

See you around! !(^o^)!

Maeda92

Hi Jade
thanks a lot for your interesting lesson.
You’re a great teacher.
take care

cep62

Hi, Jade, very Thanks.
I’m sorry, I got 7. However, I like the lesson which you teach. I can learn more clearly how to use apostrophes in English

noneego

I got 10 out of 10. This lesson is very useful for English beginners.

Iqra Junaid

Thanks

karem1911

I got 7 correct out of 10.

azdin87

i got 6 correct of 10 :/

iheb09

It makes sense now. Thank you to make it clear in a funny way!

spyorche

thank you Jade)

Faridka

Here is my questions about your lesson, please answer to me ASAP.
2. Sarah: “Do you know if _________ and ________ boyfriends are coming?”
Luke: “Mary’s boyfriend is coming but Susan’s boyfriend has to work.”
a. Marys, Susanss
b. Mary, Susan’s
c. Mary’s, Susan’s
d. Mary’s, Susan
==> I chose “b” sentence, why is it wrong?

10. _________ best friend is a worm.
a. James’
b. James
c. Jame’s
James’s is also correct, but it was not given as an option.
==> Correct answer is “a” while I chose “c”. what’s difference about 2 sentences ?

votuanho

Hi Votuanho. in number 2, B is not correct since MARY doesn’t have ‘S .

In number 10 the name of the person is JAMES , it has S at the end so we only use ‘ . And it should be affter s( James’). Also when a noun is plural and has S at the end we write in this way. I hope it helps. Best regards:soei

Soei

Great lesson ! this is a great web site to learn english, God bless you all !

rsoliveira

thanks I’ve got 10 out of 10 ..
Hmmm i love the way you teach you’re a great trainer.. i hope to have a nice accent like yours one-day.
hope you’re all right.. you left us with blues..
Take care >> God protect you

Muhammad Almuallim

thank you jade was good :)

pirri-trifilo

Thank you!

elie100691

10 out of 10. Thanks.

Vilena33

ohhhhhhh..9 correct out of 10…
thank u jade :)

Eman Elsarnoby

I got 10 correct out of 10. fascinating

bobbie1982

Hi Jade. Just a little doubt.
On the second white board (the one you used in the second part of the lesson), the first sentence reads
“The women’s group meet weekly”.
Shouldn’t be “The women’s group meetS weekly” ?
Thanks for any asnwer. And keep it up. Hope to see you in London soon.

jingler

I got 9 correct out of 10 :) Thank you

Mohvw

Yaay! Got 10/10 first try! :) Thanks very much!

aphrodiiiteee

I got 9 /10: thanks Jade for the wonderful class .

sunitamehta

I got 8/10 thanks for more one lesson
if you want to study english with me add me on skype: bruno_ferreira15

BrunoFQ

My score was 100%, although I was slightly confused on the last question. Why would there be an apostrophe after “James”? Sine James is singular wouldn’t there have to be an “‘s” after his name?

aasshhlleeyym

I get the point, thanks Mrs. Jade

Lawlite

the end of the test is th best ; good sens of humor

AMINE

I have a problem with question no.9 which says “dining table’s leg” is the correct answer but I learned it that we never use apostrophes for non-living things so as per that rule it should be “leg of the dining table is broken”. I am confused, kindly reply. Anyway your lesson was good.

irinadiplo

“The women’s group meet weekly” should be: “The women’s group meets weekly”, since “group” is the subject of the sentence and “meets” is the verb that agrees with it in number.

Tom-Anderson

Good eye! However, this is an example of how American and British English occasionally have different grammar rules. In the UK, words like “group”, “team”, “band”, etc., use the plural form of the verb.

engVid Moderator

Good to know! :)

LRN-101

The Jade’s instruction’s fairly straightforward.

Sang

thanks, that was very useful

kryill

Thank you so much Jade for your lesson. This is very useful to me.

Buddhi Chaudhary

I got 8 corrects out of 10

Buddhi Chaudhary

this was a very interesting subject and I have quite learned a lot from this video to be honest.
thank you Jade

qadir

I got 10/10, but I’m sure that after a while I must remind it again. Thank you so much for the lesson, Jade! You explain everything very good, everything is clear.

Cebuleczka95

Thank you very much, Jane. Your explanations are very clear.

Djojack

thanks JODE
BUT IDIDNT UNDERSTAND MR JONS S .WHY WE USE S HERE BUT NOT IN CHRIS?

ezzat109

Sorry I havent quite catch Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College. Does it mean College Hacham of Aske who is Haberdashers.

an thai

So crucial to know about these tricky apostrophes.
Thank you very much Ms.Jade

doudi

my Quiz j100
You got 10 correct out of 10.
:Dade!

chakim hamzah

copy my quiz jade!
100
You got 10 correct out of 10.
:D

chakim hamzah

In 2008, 2000 people were tested on their knowledge of how to use apostrophes. 46% failed the test.
I’ve been looking for some lessons but I’m confused. Each “teacher” has a different rule ( in youtube, of course ).
Not a thing in English has a rule. The land of rules don’t have an authority but each “native” is an authority.
Learning English is a lot of funny.

aroibas

I’m referring to the UK.
What about the USA, Australia, South-Africa, Canada, India, etc.
I bet Swedish would pass the test. Not to mention the rest of countries of west Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Greece…

aroibas

Hello Jade,
I have a question in relation to possessives. I’d like to know if there is any reason why sometimes you decide to use the apostrophe to indicate the possession whereas on some other ocassions you use the preposition “of”. I’m thinking, for instance, about the titles of two very well-known books which are “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.

Sacarpa

Hello Jade,

I have a doubt. Which of these forms is correct?
London landscape or London’s landscape? Or continuing, which between Credit Exam and Credit’s exam? I am confused, I would use without s.
Thank you

peppe89

I got 100% correct. Thanks for your clear explication, I understood everything.
I like your accent. CHeers

Majouribe

Thank you, Jane.
Your lesson is very helpful.
I got 10 out of 10.
Thank you again.

mohamedabokhoshiem

i got ten from ten :D thank you so much

ilham

Well I’ve got 90, the last one was James’ and I put Jame’s… It’s says that both are correct but the answer for that question is James’ :P

Magiruz

I got 10 out of 10! yey! Thanks Jade for this very helpful video!! it polished my apostrophe use skills!

jay02

I have a confusion.
Can we use ‘s to show possession of non living things?? For example table’s legs is correct or legs of a table. In another EngVid video Emma told that we don’t use ‘s to show possession of non living things. Will any one explain it to me??

adilbinmahmood

5 only, will learn more

Frankimann101

I got 100. yeay, thank you for your lesson. sometimes a simple thing confusing me.

MarvinFuk

I got 10/10
thank you for this useful lesson :)

Sura

k, well don’t mean to be rude but with how you’d explain it. I don’t understand anything at all :(

hinata@

anyone know how the description for this example “friend’s of mine”. please help me to know. .

thanks

novalist87

Friend’s of mine.
It means that he is one of my friends.
Understood.

hamlyforever

hi Ms. Jade sorry I repeat my comment about the description for this example “friend’s of mine”. please help me to know. .
thanks. . .

novalist87

9/10 :)

This was a very useful lesson!

Thanks Jade!

Isaias Menezes Silva

10/10. thanks a lot.

Soei

9/10…last was confusing.!

VYASSKV

the last one is confusing. Jame may be a person, he also can make friends with worm.

alex54wh

Hi Jade,
I have a question.

Should I write “I won the 2015 university’s Vice Chancellor award” or “I won the 2015 university’s
Vice Chancellor’s award”?
Could you please tell me which one of these is correct, if any?

Regards,
Salem

Salem bawazeer

thanks Jade.
Today’s Jade’s lesson was confusing and intriguing:) the easiest to comprehend are possessions and collective nouns, the hardest was the first paradigm (Haberdasher’)Hatcham makes me lalugh- Hashem- Hashemite kingdom of Jordan. 9 out of 10. bad result for me.

Amer_70

Hi Jade,
Thank you very much for the lesson.
It was very helpful.
Thank you.

nadirissaadi

You got 8 correct out of 10.
:)

Faris

Thanks for the very good lesson, but I’m a little confused about one of the questions in the quiz.Is it correct to say,” dining table’s leg”? I thought we should say the leg of the dining table.

lida.fereydouni

hello Jade, thanks a lot for this useful lesson.
really i benefit greatly from this lesson.
i got 10 correct out of 10 that is awesome

feisal92

HI! Jade, I’m often confused when talking about “false possessives”. You know, what I mean is that sometimes I believe that a noun is a possessive noun, but it turns out to be that it has switch into an adjective modifying another noun. Could you help me please?…Thank You

HolaHola

I got 9 correct out of 10
thank you Jade for these important lessons.

fofitoo

8 correct out of 10
Thank you jade
I’m sure jade’s lessons are very important.

AkramYanis

Great, thx allot

avbasic

Good 8/10 :))))

JINADELINO

As the Strictly Come Dancing’ judge, Graig Revel Horwood use to say: “You are fabulous!!!”
Jade, is my expression correct? Thanks

siby

I got 07/10 but I understand all of it thanks :)

Hamrawi

I got 9/10

10- was incorrect

NNASR

Hi Jade!
Thank you for the lesson! Everything is pretty clear with the possessions, but I have another question: why you said “The women’s group meet weekly.” not : “The women’s group MEETS weekly.”?

SophiaDejavu

Thank’s Jade! very helpful material.

MS14

I got 90 and 99 Percent thanks it is very good lesson thank you..
and you are very attractive if i can say that..

mohamedali7795

I got 100%. Thanks Jane for helping

micahlov7

Unfortunately , I got 5 out of 10 .
Thank you jade .
I’ll try again in the future

Ahmed alloush

10 OUT OF 10….YESSSS! Thanks Jade.

Lucas Avelino

I’m new at Engvid and so far I’ve been learning
a lot.This was a very good lesson.Thanks.

zigmund

10/10 thank you for doing such a great job;-)

DoriDori

I got 6 correct. I will go with your advice. I will review lesson once again, and attempt quiz once more. Thanks, Jade. You’re awesome.

Jpt021067

Hello from Isfahan.

pop206

Thank you for your great lesson

kasemwalid

Fantastic! I got 90 percent….:)
Thanks! Jade, for the fabulous lesson.
For now on Engvid will be my favorite site.
Now I will call it Marty’s favorite site.

fox4you2012

Hi Friends,
Am I right about the following sentences????
“Lulu’s and Angela’s boy friends.”
This sentence can mean; Lulu and Angela have more than one boyfriend each. In other words “Lulus’s boyfriends and Angela’s boyfriends.” OR It can be enplaned as there are more than one boyfriend, most probably two boyfriends, each one belongs to one.
AND
“Lulu’s and Angela’s boy friend.” This sentence can be paraphrased as “Lulu’s boy friend and Angela’s boy friend.
AND
“Lulu and Angela’s boy friends.” This sentence means there are boyfriends belong to Lulu and Angela. More than one maybe two or more.
FINALLY,
“Lulu and Angela’s boyfriend.” There is one boy friend whom belongs to Lulu and Angela, in other word they share one boyfriend due to any reason that is non of our business!!!
Your comments would highly be appreciated specially from EngVid group.
Many thanks.