Where Does that Apostrophe Thing Go, btw?

One of my all time favorite lines from one of my students is this:

Student: Mrs. McKee, I just dont get how to do that P word thingy.
Me: What P word?
Student: You know... Pa.
Poh-Pah.
Poh-post-rah.
Poh-pastra-fee.
I dont know!?
That P word, you know!
Me: Ummm... Apostrophe?
Student: YES! Papostrophe! That's it!
Me: (shaking my head) Wow....

So let's go over JUST how to use that papostrophe, shall we?

How to use apostrophe -s:
--'S is used to show SINGULAR POSSESSION only. GOT IT?
And Singular Possession can ONLY be shown one way.
You add -'s to the end of all singular words.

Example: The dog's bone.

Example: Colton's birthday.

Example: Haley's house.

Okay, that's easy. You all remember that one, right?

But for some reason everyone starts freaking out when singular words end in "s".
Like, actress. What do you do with actress? It ends in "s".....?

Well, it's singular so that means you follow the SINGULAR POSSESSION rule always.
And what do we do to words that are SINGULAR and need to show ownership/possession over something?
You got it! Just add "apostrophe -s", of course!

Example: The actress's script. (one actress has a script)

Example: Thomas's golf clubs. (there is one Thomas and he has golf clubs)

Example: Sanders's birthday party. (there is one Sanders and it's his party)

Example: Mr. Jones's dogs. (there is one Mr. Jones and he has dogs)

Now let's take it up a notch.



What do I do to show PLURAL POSSESSION?
The first step in showing plural possession is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make it PLURAL first.
Do not forget that.
That's the key ingredient to making your plural possessives correct.
Because think about it, do all plural words end in "s"?? No!

Example: Child ---> Children
Example: Woman---->Women

So let's try some.
When a plural word DOES end in "s" then you need to show possession to the plural word by adding a lonesome little apostrophe at the end after the "s".

Example: The actresses' scripts.  (there are multiples actresses and their scripts. It's plural and ends with an "s" so just add an apostrophe)
Example: The dogs' water bowls. (there are multiple dogs--it's plural and ends in "s" so just add an apostrophe at the end
Example: The teams' games were cancelled. (there are multiple teams playing multiple games--it's plural and ends in "s" so just add an apostrophe at the end).

Ok, so that was easy enough, right?

What do I do when a plural word doesn't end in "s"??
Well let's go back to the whole "make it plural first" before you do anything with the apostrophe rule.

Like I said before, not all plural words end in "s". 
Like children, women, people etc.
Well these are actually very simple to figure out.
Since they dont end in "s" and adding just a plain old "s" wouldnt make these words real words (i.e.--there is no such thing as childrens or womens or peoples. Remember, these words are plural WITHOUT the added "s") all we need to do is add an -apostrophe s.

Children is plural.
But we want to show possession.
So if multiple children have their books, then it is:
--->The children's books. (there is no such thing as childrens'---children is plural without an "s")

And if multiple women belong to a club, then it is:
--->The women's club.  (there is no such thing as womens'---women is plural without an "s)


What about FIRST and LAST NAMES??
This, honestly, is probably the trickiest of all the Apostrophe Rules.
We dont want to mess up people's names, right?

Let's start with FIRST NAMES.

Easy:
Julie own's a purse, so it's Julie's purse.
But Thomas own golf clubs, so they're Thomas's golf clubs. (dont freak out just b/c it ends in "s" remember?)

What NOT to do.
Like I said before, people freak out when a name/word ends in "s" and they dont know what to do with the apostrophe.

Always remember that putting an apostrophe ALONE at the end of the word, means it is PLURAL.
It will ALWAYS mean it is plural.
Always.

So it is not Thomas' golf clubs.
That would mean there is MORE THAN ONE THOMAS.
And there simply isnt.

Example: When Charles Dickens write a book, it becomes:
Charles Dickens's book. (there is only Charles Dickens and he wrote the book).
--->Too often, I see it incorrectly written as: Charles Dickens' or Charles Dicken's.
--->Here's the problem: Dickens' means there is more than one of him.
--->Dicken's means his last name is Dicken.
Get it?!

Okay, so how do I make LAST NAMES PLURAL POSESSIVE?
Like I said before, names are tricky because you dont want to mispell them and you dont want to thrown in apostrophe where an apostrophe doesnt go.
So let's take this slow, because lots of people get thrown off when we go into this one.

A singular Mrs. McKee is exactly that: Mrs. McKee

When showing possession it becomes: Mrs. McKee's dog.
--->there is one of me and I have a dog

If you receive a Christmas card from us, it becomes: Love, The McKees
--->You simply just add an "s" because there is no possession, you simply make it plural.

If you wanted to talk about our house that we share it becomes: The McKees' home.
--->Remember the first step!! You make McKee plural by adding an "s".
--->Now that there is an "s" on the end of our name, you simply add an apostrophe to the end to show that it is our home. If it was "McKee's home" then that would mean there is only one of us in ownership.

What about a name that ends in "s" already?

One of Mr. Jones is exactly that: Mr. Jones

If you want to go to his pool: Mr. Jones's pool.
---> There is one Mr. Jones and it is his pool

If you got a Christmas card from their family: Love, The Joneses
----> You make a last name that already ends in "s" plural by adding "-es"

If you wanted to go to their house: The Joneses' house.
--->Multiple Joneses live there remember, so once you make it plural, then show possession by adding an apostrophe to the end!



To cap it all off in review, let's take a look at this chart:
Singular        Singular Possessive     Plural         Plural Possessive
Child ---->     Child's    ---->          Children---->    Children's 
Woman          Woman's               Women            Women's
Person            Person's                People              People's
Boy                Boy's                     Boys                Boys'
Dog                Dog's                     Dogs                Dogs'
Actress           Actress's                Actresses          Actresses'
McKee           McKee's                  McKees            McKees'
Jones              Jones's                 Joneses            Joneses'


Ok, now that I have absolutely filled your brain with Apostrophe Rules, does that makes sense now?