Apostrophe or catastrophe?!

We have been looking at the use (and misuse) of the mighty apostrophe this week too...

We reminded ourselves about:

• apostrophes for possession- those that show something belongs to someone/something else, e.g. Miss Barrell's class

• apostrophes for omission- those where words have been joined together and letters missed out (contractions),                                                                                                                             e.g. I didn't realise there was a difference!

We also explored times when apostrophes can confuse us:

• When we say could've it sounds like 'could of'- we then sometimes write this despite it being grammatically incorrect. Of course we know it should be 'could have'!

• Its/ It's- this one stumps a lot of us! We went over the fact that unless your it means 'it is', it should NOT contain an apostrophe.

• Plurals- they don't need apostrophes! This is the most common error made with apostrophes... 

1. The bike's in the shed --> This is correct as the apostrophe marks a contracted form (bike is).
2. The bikes are in the shed --> This is correct as there is more than one bike; we don't need apostrophes for plurals.
3. The bike's are in the shed --> This is not correct as this would mean 'The bike is are in the shed'.