Lesson video

Hello, today we are going to be looking at apostrophes, we're revising.

So if you don't know the terms apostrophe for singular possession or apostrophe for contraction maybe best don't start here, go back to the previous lesson in this unit or also there's a couple of lessons in unit 12 that will help you find some earlier lessons in the grammar lessons.

So if you're not sure about those, don't start here.

If you are, let's start.

Okay, let's look at what we're doing in this lesson.

We are going to revise apostrophes, look at them again because we've already learned a bit about them.

We're going to practise and look at apostrophes for possession, and we're going to practise using them correctly.

This is what you will need.

You will need your exercise book or some paper, you will need a pencil or a pen and you will need to make sure that your brain is switched on, so that you can remember this for your writing.

If you don't have those things, can you pause and go and get them now? Okay, key vocabulary to understand the key words that we need to know for this lesson.

We need to know what an apostrophe is, crucial.

It is a punctuation mark.

So one of the funny little dots and dashes that go amongst our letters to make our sentences make sense.

We need to know what contraction is.

Contraction is making something smaller or something becoming smaller.

Possession is mine, it's mine, it's my possession.

It's something that belongs to something or someone.

So can you get your pointy fingers out, get your pointy fingers out and point to the apostrophe.

Three, two, one and go.

Good, there it is.

Let's do it again, three, two, one, point.

Point your fingers, point your fingers, point your fingers.

There it is.

And one last time ready, steady, do it as soon as I switch.

Three, two, one.

Where is it? There it is, fantastic.

What is it? It is a punctuation mark that shows possession, something belonging or contraction of two words being squished and getting smaller.

So first one is possession.

Possession shows that something belongs to someone or something.

So for example, the Swallow's wings, the wings that belong to the swallow.

Contraction is when some things got smaller, it's been left out.

So an apostrophe for contraction means that a letter has been disappeared when two words squished together.

So you are, it's an example, becomes you're.

And where the A has gone, we've put our apostrophe.

So, You're supposed to be the Happy Prince.

It's from the Happy Prince story by Oscar Wilde.

Types of apostrophe, what are they, again? There are those two that we're learning at the moment.

One is for, can you show me with your hands? What's that one called? Possession and contraction.

There it is, the possession or contraction, people getting smaller with it and then clap.

Okay, spot the apostrophes in the sentences for me, please.

Can you point to the apostrophe in the first sentence? Is it the one after tired or is it somewhere else? It needs to be up high an apostrophe.

So have a little look.

Okay, you think you've got it? What about the next one? She couldn't keep her exhausted eyes open.

Where's the apostrophe? Can you point to it for me? Fantastic, and I'm so happy that you agree to help.

Can you point to the apostrophe in that sentence, please? Fantastic, I'm going to show you all the answers in just a minute.

The boy's smile stretched from ear to ear.

Where's the apostrophe? Great, okay, let's double check.

Here they all are.

The tired, old woman's hands were rough and worn.

She couldn't keep her exhausted eyes open.

I'm so happy that you agree to help.

The boy's smile stretched from ear to ear.

So now, let's decide what type of apostrophes they are 'cause we already know some of what apostrophes for contraction and possession are.

So the first one, is it an apostrophe for contraction of two words being squashed together or possession? Can you show me with your hands? Three, two, one.

Yes, it's possession 'cause it's talking about the woman's hands, the hands that belong to the woman.

Next one, She couldn't keep her eyes.

Give me a clap or a grab.

Ready, steady, go.

Ooh, I saw lots clapping.

Fantastic.

She couldn't because it's could and not, squish-squashed, and now we have our apostrophe where there's that missing O in not.

Next one, I'm so happy that you agree to help.

Is that squish of two words, can you split it up into two words, going backwards? Or is it something belonging? What did you think? Yeah, clap to contract.

Okay, and the last one, is it a clap or a grab? Three, two, one, show me.

Good, it's the hands, the smile, sorry, that belonged to the boy.

Okay, so we're going to revise singular possession.

What do we need to add when we're doing an apostrophe for singular possession? It is a, that's magic in, in magic in, magic in, in magic in.

Ready? There we go.

It is an apostrophe and an S.

Let's see some examples.

The ruby of the Prince becomes, say it aloud for me.

The Prince's ruby, lovely.

So there's a fuller sentence.

I think I want a capital letter.

The Prince's huge ruby rested on top of his sword.

It needs a capital T there.

Thank you for spotting it with me.

Okay, that's showing that the Prince is one thing.

So that's the word singular means one and it belongs to the Prince.

Okay, so now we have the woman.

So what would we do to turn this into singular possession using an apostrophe of the woman? You would say, not the sore hands of the woman, but the woman's sore hands.

Lovely, and there I've got some correct punctuation in there, thank you.

The hands of the seamstress.

So this one ends in an S anyway.

So we don't want so many but to keep it simple, we're going to follow the rule of add apostrophe S.

So what would it be? It would be, The seamstress's hands, lovely.

And it wouldn't be incorrect with this one if you just had an apostrophe after the second S of the seamstress, but to keep it simple we're going to add apostrophe S and that is also correct.

So we just add apostrophe S for singular possession.

So can you correct these for me? I have forgotten some crucial things which make these sentences not make sense.

Can you please correct them? I don't think I want you to write the full sentence.

What I'd like you to do is just write the word that has the missing apostrophe with the apostrophe in it.

So can you write that down for the Princes ruby in the moonlight? Just write the word with the missing apostrophe and where the apostrophe should be.

Similar for this, please.

The stars twinkled in the Swallows eyes.

The good deed warmed the small birds heart.

Pause and write the word that has the missing apostrophe with the apostrophe in it, please, and resume once you've done that, thank you.

Okay, let's check.

The Prince's ruby.

So it should be Prince apostrophe S, simple that one, I think.

Swallow's kindness, and again I've got capital letter 'cause these are characters names in the story of the Happy Prince.

Good deed warmed the small bird's heart.

So it should be bird apostrophe S.

It's the next one.

So now we're going to revise contraction.

Is not, if it's contracted, what does it become? It becomes isn't.

And you see where you've got those words squishing together, we've got the apostrophe in its place.

Now often when that happens, we lose a vowel and here are our vowels, A, E, I, O, U.

And those are all words, letters, sorry, where the shape of your mouth changes significantly.

A, E, I, O, U.

You can see my mouth change shape quite a lot in each of those.

So the is not becomes isn't, it loses the O in that case.

So I am.

Mm, what letter are we going to lose and put an apostrophe in its place? I am becomes I'm, that's it.

So we lose the A and we put an apostrophe in its place.

So here are some others.

You might have you are, becomes you're.

We are becomes we're.

They are becomes they're.

And that's because those two words have squashed together and so we need to show that we know that by putting an apostrophe there.

And you can see that each one there, it's the A that disappears and apostrophe is in its place.

Bye bye, A.

So some other examples.

You're was once what? Can you tell me? Good, you are.

And there we've lost the? Wisper it.

Yes, couldn't was once two words, before it got squished.

What are those two words? Tell me.

Good, could not.

And what's missing there? We've taken away the? O, fantastic.

Mustn't is from two words.

Can you think what they are? Shout! Must not, good.

And what have we lost? We've lost another O.

And they're, we had that one before.

They're becomes from two words, which are, they are.

Good and whisper this last one.

Yeah, we've lost that A, that vowel A.

Sometimes it's more than just a vowel.

So, I'd, we can go backwards.

I'd has come from I would, but we've lost loads of letters there.

So you'd might have come from you would, yeah.

We'd and they'd.

Lovely.

You would, we would, they would.

And there we've lost all of how many letters? We've got four letters we've missed out.

W, O, U, L, and then we've just kept the D.

So what about I've.

We're going backwards again.

I've has come from.

Can you tell me? I've.

I have, good.

And there we've lost more than just the vowel as well.

I've, you've, we've has all come from have.

So you have, we have, they have, and we've got our apostrophe V E and there we've lost the H and the A.

So each time it's those two words squitching together and the apostrophe showing what has been omitted, missed out.

So, can you correct these apostrophes for contraction, for me? It cant be raining the sky is crystal clear.

Where is my apostrophe? Can you correct it, please? The seamstress couldnt afford medicine or food.

Where's my missing apostrophe? Youre a good friend.

Could you pause and write just the word with the apostrophe where it's supposed to be.

Pause and do that now, please, in your book or on your paper.

Okay, let's check them together.

Can't, it can't be raining because that was cannot squished together, shows a contractive word.

The seamstress couldn't, could not afford the medicine or food.

Could not squished together.

You're, you are a good friend squished together.

Now this one's a tricky one.

Well done for your efforts there, by the way.

That was really good.

Ooh, a bit wobbly.

Okay now your is a commonly mistaken apostrophe or not apostrophe.

So your kind, is that contraction or is it possession? Your, also it belongs to you.

I can see why that might be confusing.

Would you say your kind and spell it like that? Can you give me thumbs up or thumbs down? Don't worry if you don't know 'cause I'm going to explain as well.

Three, two, one, ooh.

No, you wouldn't spell it like that.

You might say your, it's your thumb, belonging to you, but you're comes from you are so that's wrong.

It has to be split into you are.

You are kind and then we tap an apostrophe, so it would be like that.

So I want to show you so that's the correct way, you are kind, you're kind.

I want to show you a trick 'cause it's so often easy to make this mistake.

When you're writing you're check if it makes sense to split it back up into you are.

And if it does, you spell it with an apostrophe, R-E.

So let's have a look at these ones.

It's not your fault.

You would split it up again.

It's not you are fault.

Does that make sense? You decide, if you think it does make sense, then that's how you should write it.

If you think it doesn't make sense, then you need to change it.

Can you check these for me, please, using the split up technique.

Ready? Pause and have a go now.

Okay, decide what you think.

It's not you're fault.

It's not you are fault.

Does that make sense? We said it aloud.

No, it doesn't make sense.

So that must be an incorrect spelling.

Your a good friend.

Hm we had a hint of that one on the previous slide.

Your a good friend.

Can you say you are a good friend? Yes, so that spelling is incorrect as well because it should be written a different way.

I'll show you in a minute.

You're a special person.

You are a special person.

Does that make sense when we split it up again? It does, so the apostrophe R-E is correct in that case, that one gets a tick.

So let's have a look at what they should look like.

It's not your fault.

So that's how it should be written.

Just with an R.

You're, you are a good friend.

You're, you are a special person.

So that's how they should be written correctly.

So when you're writing your it's a really handy trick to make sure that you're writing the right your with an apostrophe R-E or just with an R.

Okay, here's the main task.

You need to fill in the gaps in these sentences.

I want you to write a whole sentence actually, please, in your books with the correct apostrophe for contraction or possession.

So write the sentence, fill in the gap with the correct word with an apostrophe, for contraction or possession, please.

So I want you to pause now, write this in your book and then resume when you're ready to check your answers.

Okay, fantastic work, really well done.

Here are some examples of some answers.

You might have something slightly different, but the most important thing is that you get the apostrophe right.

So the first one we have.

The Prince's huge ruby glinted in the sunshine.

So that's a contraction.

No, that's possession.

She couldn't believe her eyes, contraction.

You're a kind friend, little bird.

So we had a bit of practise with that one.

You are a kind friend , contraction.

The Seamstress's eyes were heavy and tired.

So they belong to the seamstress, her eyes.

And We've, we have done a good deed.

So can you just pause and check and correct to make sure yours are right and your apostrophes are in the correct place.

Working really hard, well done.

Congratulations, really well done.

You have finished this lesson on apostrophes and I think they're going to be very handy when you're doing your writing.

They really help you convey what you need to when you're writing and to make your reader understand what you're trying to say.

Really well done.

I look forward to seeing you next lesson.