Page 26 - English Expedition Class 4
P. 26
Grammar
Apostrophe
The apostrophe (’) has two main uses in English – to indicate possession and to mark
contractions.
Read the following sentences.
His lungs were working like a blacksmith’s bellows.
They’d call me an idiot.
In the first sentence, blacksmith’s bellows refers to the bellows that belong to the blacksmith.
The apostrophe is therefore used to indicate possession. Look at a few more examples:
Pakhom’s legs Martha’s bakery the dog’s tail
In the second sentence, they’d is the contracted form of they would:
They would call me an idiot.
Read the following list of contractions.
should not shouldn’t
could not couldn’t
do not don’t
here is here’s
where is where’s
We put the apostrophe in place of the letter(s) omitted.
A. Iden fy whether the apostrophe is used to mark contrac on (C) or to indicate
possession (P). Expand the contrac ons and write them in the blanks.
1. They could’ve asked us if we wanted to come. _______________
2. What’s your name? _______________
3. We went to David’s restaurant yesterday. _______________
4. The girls’ team won the match. _______________
5. The dog wags its tail to show that it’s happy. _______________
6. My mother’s name is Shayeri. _______________
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