Draw attention to the examples of possessive apostrophes in the text:
- Boy's letter tempts Queen to his town
- his town's Golden Jubilee Celebrations
- George's reply to his letter
- Romford's market
- the stallholders' cockney rhyming slang
Explain that we use an apostrophe s ('s) to show something is owned by or belongs to somebody or something.
- the toy belonging to the baby = the baby's toy
When there is more than one owner, add the apostrophe after the s.
If the owners do not end in s, add 's
Some academics state that this use of the apostrophe originates from Old English when:
George's reply would have been said as George (his) reply
The apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters.
Main activity
Children pair-up a person and an object from the list below using possessive apostrophes. For example, Paul's computer.
- Neil............football
- Clare..........book
- Kieran..............plaster
- Graham.......video
- Tim............mobile phone
- Sanjay..........joke
- Claudine.....diary
- Cristina.......photo
- Shelley.......game
Extension activity
Children give each of the owners below a possession. They must check to see if the owner is singular or plural. For example, the girls' playground.
- teachers
- Matthew
- ladies
- winner
- policemen
- boys
- vicars
- gardeners
- butcher
- people
Plenary
Recap on the main teaching points and clarify any confusion the class have.
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