Structure: The Use of Possesive Apostrophe – SS2 English Lesson Note (Second Term)

We use the apostrophe (‘) to achieve the following in sentences:

1. To indicate the genitive of nouns and noun phrases. The genitive is also the possessive form of a noun. E.g:

i. The girl’s book

ii. The girl’s books

iii. A child’s toy

iv. Dorcas’ money (you pronounce it Dorcas’s money)

Note that the genitive form of a word is the same as the possessive form of that word. If your name is Joan, the genitive form of Joan is Joan’s, while the genitive form of people is people’s.

2. To indicate the genitive of indefinite pronouns. E.g:

i. This is someone’s child.

ii. It is nobody’s business.

iii. It is everybody’s business.

3. To mark contractions in words, such as:

i. can’t (cannot)

ii. won’t (will not)

iii. hasn’t (has not)

4. To indicate plurals of numbers, letters, items, figures and cited words or expressions.

Words for the week

Morass, Abject, Blandish, Duplicity, Ennui, Maudlin, Abscond, Alias, Dither, Emaciated