Grammar 101: insider tips and tricks to instantly improve your writing (part 2)

Hannah Lawrence
A professional man sits at a desk, writing notes with a laptop open in front of him.
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As a proofreader and editor, I'm often asked to explain the rules of grammar. I answered three of the most common questions in the first post of this series, and now it's time to look at another frequent query: how to use apostrophes.?Where do they go? When are they needed? And when should they be left out entirely?

Apostrophes might be small but they can cause big confusion because they are used both to indicate posession and to contract words. But the good news is that there are clear, simple patterns to follow, which we'll explore, along with exceptions to watch out for.?Whether you¡¯re writing a report or just a text message, these tips will help you use apostrophes correctly and confidently.

Apostrophes with ease: posession

Apostrophes show possession: they tell us something belongs to someone or something.?When we want to show possession for regular plurals (when a word needs an "s" to make it plural), the apostrophe goes at the end and no further "s" is added:?

  • The teachers' association
  • The campaigners' letter
  • The dogs' dinner

Whereas, when we want to show posession for either a single noun or an irregular plural (for example, children, geese), we add an "apostrophe s":

  • Sarah's car
  • ɫèAV's assessment tools
  • The children's presents
  • The geese's pond

Single names that end in an ¡°s¡± get an ¡°apostrophe s¡± but plural names get only an apostrophe:

  • Mrs Jones¡¯s car
  • James's cat
  • Whole Foods¡¯ offices
  • Starbucks' nearest store

There's one exception that's important to note: "its" and "it's". The posessive form "its" does not have an apostrophe: "it's" always means "it is".?

  • The cat ate its food

Apostrophes with ease: contractions

Contracted words are the combined and shortened forms of two words, which are commonly used in everyday writing and speech to sound more natural and conversational. They're made by omitting certain letters and replacing them with an apostrophe: for example, in "don't", it replaces the missing ¡°o¡± from not.?

When you miss one or more letters, use an apostrophe:

  • "would not" becomes "wouldn¡¯t"
  • "cannot" becomes "can¡¯t"
  • "we are" becomes "we're"
  • and, as before, "it is" becomes "it's"

When not to use apostrophes

A common mistake is using apostrophes when making words plural or when refering to decades and numbers. For example:

  • The 1980s had the best music (not "The 1980's")
  • Many people retire from working in their 70s (not "their 70's")
  • I bought some apples at the store (not "apple's")
Using apostrophes: simple tips to improve your writing skills
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Test your knowledge

Now you know the basic rules of apostrophes, it's time to check your knowledge.

Which sentence is correct?:

  1. The childrens break time has finished
  2. The childrens' break time has finished
  3. The children's break time has finished

It's sentence 3. We want to show posession ¨C break time belongs to the children ¨C and "children" is plural so it gets an "apostrophe s".
Now try these sentences and see if you can figure out which one is right:

  1. When you're walking my dog, its important to remember it's collar.
  2. When you're walking my dog, it's important to remember its collar.
  3. When youre walking my dog, it's important to remember it's collar.

The correct answer is 2. "You're" is a contraction of "you are", "it is important" so we use "it's" and we show that the collar belongs to the dog by using "its". Finally:?

  1. Luis' daughter won't go to sleep.?
  2. Luis's daughter wont go to sleep.?
  3. Luis's daughter won't go to sleep.?

Here, the right answer is 3. "Luis" is a single name, so gets an "apostrophe s", and "will not" is shortened to "won't".?

Hopefully you now feel more confident in using apostrophes in your writing. Look out for the next post in this series, where we¡¯ll explore more common grammar mistakes and how to avoid them.

Read our blog posts "11 fascinating facts about English"?and "Grammar 101: insider tips and tricks to instantly improve your writing (part 1)".

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    6 tips for planning your first English classes

    By Nicole Kyriacou

    You are nervous, yet excited. You want to appear relaxed and fun, but still be taken seriously. Most of all, you are keen to make an excellent first impression.

    With all that in mind - planning your first English classes of the year can be a daunting experience.

    Here are six things to consider when planning your first classes:

    1. Set clear aims

    Whether you are teaching young learners, teenagers or adults, it¡¯s important you discuss the aims and objectives of the course from day one. You¡¯ll need to learn more about your students' needs to do this. Why are they learning English? Do they want to prepare for an official exam? What activities do they enjoy? What things do they need to improve the most?

    The way you do this will depend on the age of your learners. For example, with adults and teens, you could get them to interview each other and write a report about what they found out. With younger children, do a survey they can complete using smiley faces.

    2. Find out students¡¯ interests

    Although you should understand your students' needs and why they want to learn English - to help make your classes relevant and engaging - you should also discover what they enjoy doing outside of class.

    To do this, get students to write mini bios you can stick around the classroom. Or have them prepare presentations where they share something they are passionate about with the rest of the class - using coursebooks. As a class, go through the contents page, vote on which topics students find most interesting, and start with those.

    3. Break the ice

    You want your first class to be fun so that students are motivated, and associate English language learning with something they can enjoy. Ice-breakers can also be an excellent way to get to know each other and learn about your students' current level of English.

    Activities where students have to ask each other questions work well.

    4. Provide a comfortable environment

    Young learners and teenagers tend to be shy at the start of a course - especially if they don¡¯t know each other. Develop a rapport and break down boundaries by including team-building activities in your first class.?Your aim is to have all the students feeling more comfortable with each other before the end of the lesson so that there are no awkward silences in future lessons.

    5. Manage expectations

    Managing expectations is an essential part of a teacher's job. Make sure in the first class you are clear about what you expect from your students and what they can expect from you.

    Have students brainstorm the rules for the class and then make a big poster or ¡®class contract¡¯ which all students have to sign. Display the poster on the wall so you can always refer to it if someone misbehaves.

    Try to keep the rules as positive as possible. Instead of writing: 'Don¡¯t speak your first language', write: 'Try to always speak English and ask if you don¡¯t know a word'. If you are feeling really brave, you can even get your students to devise a list of rules for you which you can display on the wall next to theirs.

    6. Make it challenging

    It¡¯s great making your first lesson fun - but there¡¯s nothing more motivating than leaving a new class and feeling like you¡¯ve made a good decision and you are going to learn lots (and you aren¡¯t wasting your time or money). This is especially important for adult learners.

    So, as well as getting to know each other and finding out their needs, teach them something new. This could be 10 new pieces of vocabulary, how to structure a letter or report, or a list of resources they can use at home to practice their English.