American Diploma · ACT · English: Punctuation

ACT Apostrophes: Possession, Contractions and Plurals

A four-step method for every apostrophe question — singular and plural owners, irregular plurals, joint and separate possession, contractions, its/it's, whose/who's, their/they're and plurals that need no apostrophe — with a 10-question ACT-style practice.

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An apostrophe (') has only two jobs: it shows possession (the student's book) and it marks missing letters in a contraction (it's = it is). That sounds simple, yet apostrophe questions catch many strong students, because the test mixes the two jobs together and adds words that look as if they need an apostrophe but do not. This lesson gives you a short method that solves every apostrophe item.

What this question type tests

Apostrophe questions belong to the Conventions of Standard English reporting category (38–43% of the 40 scored English questions). A word in the essay is underlined, and the four choices show the same word with the apostrophe in different places — or with no apostrophe at all — usually with NO CHANGE first. Sometimes two words change together, for example "the citys' plan" vs "the city's plans".

To answer, you must decide three things about the underlined word:

Is it plural (more than one) or singular (one)?
Does it own something — is the next noun "belonging to" it?
Is it a contraction (two words squeezed into one) or a possessive pronoun (its, whose, their, your)?

1. Possession: the four-step method

Never decide where the apostrophe goes by looking at the word. Use these steps in order.

Find the owner. Turn the phrase round with "of": *the voices of the singers*, *the bag of the child*.
Decide: one owner or more than one? Read the rest of the sentence for clues (many, several, both, all, a, each, one).
Write the owner word correctly first — singular (singer) or plural (singers, children).
Add the apostrophe: if the owner word ends in -s, add only '; if it does not end in -s, add 's.

Owner	Step 3: write the owner	Step 4: add	✓ Result
one student	student	+ 's	the student's answer
many students	students	+ '	the students' answers
one child	child	+ 's	the child's toy
many children	children	+ 's (no -s at the end)	the children's toys
one country	country	+ 's	the country's capital
many countries	countries	+ '	the countries' flags
one boss	boss	+ 's	the boss's office
many bosses	bosses	+ '	the bosses' meeting

Singular possession: noun + 's.

✓ The station's clock is broken. (one station)
✗ The stations' clock is broken. (This means several stations share one clock.)
✓ The bus's engine stopped. ✓ James's notebook. (A singular word that already ends in -s still takes 's. You may also see just an apostrophe after names such as Charles' — a well-written question will not make you choose between these two forms.)

Plural possession (plural ends in -s): noun + ' only.

✓ All the players' shirts were washed. (many players)
✗ All the player's shirts were washed. (one player — but "all the" tells you there are many)
✗ All the players's shirts were washed. (never add 's to a plural that already ends in -s)

Plurals that do not end in -s: noun + 's. The test loves these because students apply "plural = s'" without thinking.

✓ the children's library ✗ the childrens' library ✗ the childrens library
✓ the women's team ✗ the womens' team
✓ people's opinions ✗ peoples' opinions (unless you mean several different peoples or nations)
Also: men's, mice's.

مكان الأبوستروف

ما تبصّش على شكل الكلمة. اسأل نفسك: الحاجة دي بتاعة واحد ولا أكتر من واحد؟ اكتب الكلمة صح الأول (student أو students أو children)، وبعدين: لو الكلمة خلصانة بحرف s حط ' بس (students')، ولو مش خلصانة بـ s حط 's (student's / children's).

2. Joint and separate possession

When two owners are named together, ask: do they own one thing together, or does each own his or her own thing?

Meaning	Rule	✓ Example
Joint: one thing, shared	Apostrophe on the last owner only	Omar and Laila's flat is near the sea. (one flat, shared)
Separate: each owns their own	Apostrophe on every owner	Omar's and Laila's phones were stolen. (two different phones)

✗ Omar's and Laila's flat is near the sea. (A singular "flat" after separate possession is confusing: did they each own the same flat?)
✗ Omar and Laila's phones were stolen. (This says they share phones — possible, but if each had a phone, use separate possession.)
Clues for joint possession: shared, together, joint, one. Clues for separate possession: both, each, their own, a plural noun after the owners.

Compound nouns take the apostrophe on the last word: my sister-in-law's car, the editor-in-chief's decision, someone else's coat.

3. Contractions: the apostrophe marks missing letters

Contraction	Full form	✓ Example
it's	it is / it has	It's late. It's been a long day.
they're	they are	They're waiting outside.
who's	who is / who has	Who's coming? Who's seen my keys?
you're	you are	You're right.
there's	there is / there has	There's a problem.
don't, can't, won't, isn't, didn't	do not, cannot, will not, is not, did not	We didn't know.
let's	let us	Let's start.

The apostrophe goes where the letters are missing, not between the two words: ✓ doesn't (does not) ✗ does'nt.

4. Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe

This is the most tested apostrophe rule. Personal pronouns already show possession, so they never need an apostrophe: its, whose, their, theirs, your, yours, his, hers, ours.

Possessive (belongs to)	Contraction (missing letters)	Other form
its — The cat licked its paw.	it's = it is / it has	✗ its' (does not exist)
whose — The girl whose bike was stolen…	who's = who is / who has	✗ whos
their — They lost their tickets.	they're = they are	there = a place / "there is"
your — Is this your bag?	you're = you are	✗ your's
hers, ours, theirs, yours	—	✗ her's, our's, their's, your's

The expansion test. Replace the word with its full form: "it is", "it has", "who is", "they are", "you are". If the sentence still makes sense, use the apostrophe form. If it sounds wrong, use the possessive.

The company changed its logo. → "changed it is logo" ✗ → so its ✓
It's been raining all week. → "It has been raining" ✓ → so it's ✓
The writer whose book won the prize… → "who is book" ✗ → so whose ✓
The volunteers say they're tired. → "they are tired" ✓ → so they're ✓
There are three reasons. (Not possession, not "they are" → there.)

its ولا it's؟

افتح الكلمة: لو ينفع تقول it is أو it has يبقى it's بأبوستروف. لو لأ، يبقى its من غير أبوستروف (يعني "بتاعه"). ونفس الكلام مع who's / whose و they're / their و you're / your. الضماير (its, whose, their, your, hers, ours) عمرها ما بتاخد أبوستروف.

5. Plurals that need no apostrophe

An apostrophe never makes a word plural. If nothing is owned, there is no apostrophe.

✓ Three new stations opened. ✗ Three new station's opened.
✓ The Hassans live next door. (the family) ✓ The Hassans' garden is full of roses. (the family's garden)
✓ in the 1990s ✓ two DVDs ✓ several NGOs (decades and abbreviations: plural with -s only)
✓ Prices rose for two years. ✗ for two year's
✓ The students worked hard. (The students do something; they do not own anything.)

Owner or just plural? Look at the word right after the underlined noun. If it is a noun that belongs to the first word, you need possession. If it is a verb, a preposition or the end of the phrase, you do not.

the teachers' room (room = noun belonging to the teachers → possessive)
the teachers arrived (arrived = verb → plain plural)
the teachers in the hall (in = preposition → plain plural)

Subtle cases the ACT likes

Two changes at once: "the citys' plans" — fix the owner (city's) and check the noun after it (plans, not plan's).
Singular clue far away: "One of the museum's rooms" — "one of" refers to the rooms; the owner is still one museum.
Time expressions: "a week's holiday", "two weeks' notice" — the same singular/plural rule applies.
it's / its at the start of a sentence: "Its" can start a sentence too: *Its roof leaks.*
who's / whose in questions: *Whose idea was this?* (belonging to whom) vs *Who's ready?* (who is).

Worked examples

Each example is part of an ACT-style essay. The underlined portion is shown between double underscores, as on the quiz.

Worked example 1 — plural owner

Every spring, our village celebrates the hard work of its many farmers. At the festival, the __farmer's harvests__ fill long tables with dates, oranges, and figs.

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) farmers harvests
C) farmers' harvests
D) farmers' harvest's

Answer: C.

C is correct. The previous sentence tells us the village has many farmers, and "harvests" is plural, so the owner is plural and ends in -s: farmers + '.
A is singular: it means the harvests of one farmer, but the essay is about "its many farmers".
B has no apostrophe, so nothing shows that the harvests belong to the farmers.
D gets the owner right but adds an apostrophe to "harvests", which owns nothing — it is a simple plural.

Worked example 2 — irregular plural

The new park includes a running track, a playground, and a __childrens'__ reading corner shaded by palm trees.

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) children's
C) childrens
D) childrens's

Answer: B.

B is correct. "Children" is already plural and does not end in -s, so the possessive is children + 's.
A is the irregular plural trap: "childrens" is not a word, so neither is "childrens'".
C has no apostrophe and uses the non-word "childrens".
D stacks endings on a non-word.

Worked example 3 — its / it's

The robotics club won the regional final. __It's__ members built a robot that could sort recycling by colour.

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) Its'
C) It is
D) Its

Answer: D.

D is correct. The members belong to the club, so we need the possessive pronoun "its", with no apostrophe. Expansion test: "It is members built…" makes no sense.
A is the contraction "it is".
B "its'" does not exist in English.
C is the full form of A, and "It is members built…" makes no sense.

Worked example 4 — joint vs separate possession

The documentary was __Tarek's and Amira's__ first project together; they wrote, filmed, and edited it in one summer.

Question: Choose the best version of the underlined portion. If the original is best, choose NO CHANGE.

A) NO CHANGE
B) Tarek and Amira's
C) Tarek and Amiras'
D) Tareks' and Amiras'

Answer: B.

B is correct. They made one project together ("first project together"), so this is joint possession: the apostrophe goes on the last name only.
A is separate possession, which suggests each had his or her own first project — but the sentence describes one shared film.
C puts the apostrophe after an -s that the name does not have.
D makes both names plural, as if there were several Tareks and several Amiras.

Classic traps

The plural-with-apostrophe trap: "three station's", "two year's" — no owner, no apostrophe.
The it's/its swap: "The city changed it's name" — possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe.
The irregular plural trap: childrens', womens', peoples' — these words do not end in -s, so add 's.
The wrong number: "the player's shirts" when the sentence says "all the players".
The double apostrophe: two apostrophes where only the owner needs one (farmers' harvest's).
Who's / whose and they're / their: always do the expansion test.

Fast strategy for test day

Look at the word after the underlined noun: a noun that belongs to it → possessive; a verb or a preposition → plain plural.
Find the clue words for number: a, one, each (singular) vs many, several, all, both, the two (plural).
Write the owner first (child/children, city/cities), then add ' or 's.
For its, whose, their, your: expand to "it is / who is / they are / you are". If it fails, no apostrophe.
Check every word in the choice: some choices fix one apostrophe and add a wrong one somewhere else.

Practice

Two short ACT-style essays with 5 questions each. Every question tests apostrophes: possession, contractions, or plurals that need no apostrophe.

Remember

Write the owner first, then add the apostrophe: ends in -s → ' (students'); does not end in -s → 's (student's, children's).
Joint possession: apostrophe on the last owner only. Separate possession: apostrophe on every owner.
Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe: its, whose, their, your, hers, ours, theirs.
Contractions: it's = it is / it has; who's = who is / who has; they're = they are; you're = you are — use the expansion test.
No owner, no apostrophe: plurals, decades (1990s) and abbreviations (DVDs) take -s only.

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