Video summary

Apostrophes for Possession | Possessive Nouns | EasyTeaching

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main ideas / lessons

  • Apostrophes have multiple uses, including:
    • Contractions (showing omitted letters), e.g., could not → couldn’t, they have → they’ve.
    • Possession/ownership, meaning something belongs to someone or something else.
  • A possessive noun is the noun that “owns” or is in possession of something (e.g., in “The dog’s bowl”, dog’s shows possession).
  • Rule focus: where to place the apostrophe depends on whether the possessed noun is singular, plural, irregular plural, or part of a proper noun.

Method / rules for apostrophes in possessive nouns (checklist)

1) Singular possessive nouns (regular nouns)

  • Add an apostrophe before the S:
    • The teacher’s desk
    • The baby’s mother
    • My friend’s house
  • The apostrophe indicates possession/ownership of the noun following it.

2) Plural possessive nouns (regular plurals)

  • Move the apostrophe after the S:
    • If more than one dog: The dogs’ bowl
  • For regular plural nouns, apostrophe placement is typically after the final S.

3) Irregular plural possessive nouns (exceptions)

  • Irregular plural nouns form plurals without simply adding S/ES (e.g., tooth → teeth, woman → women, child → children).
  • Place the apostrophe before the S:
    • The woman’s idea (one woman)
    • The women’s idea (more than one woman)
    • The child’s toys
    • The children’s toys

4) Proper nouns ending in S

  • If a proper noun ends with S (e.g., James), it is acceptable to:
    • either add or omit the final S before adding the apostrophe:
      • James’s books
      • (The video notes leaving off the final S is also correct.)

Application examples shown in the video

  • Singular possessive:
    • The teacher’s desk is tidy.
    • The baby’s mother is tired.
  • Contractions vs possession:
    • That’s is identified as a contraction for “that is”, not a possession form.
  • Plural possessive:
    • The dogs’ bowl is empty.
    • If the desk belonged to more than one teacher: The teachers’ desk is tidy.

Practice task included (where apostrophes go)

The video gives sentences missing apostrophes and instructs viewers to:

  1. Find the possessive nouns
  2. Determine whether they’re singular, regular plural, or irregular plural
  3. Place the apostrophe accordingly

Singular noun answers (apostrophe before the S)

  • frog’s skin
  • Tim’s house
  • fisherman’s net

Plural noun answers

  • The video provides these possessive forms:
    • girls’ play date (apostrophe after the S, regular plural)
    • brother’s bedroom (appears to be treated as singular in the provided example)
    • men’s fishing trip (irregular plural, apostrophe placed after men and before the added S; i.e., before the final S)

Speakers / sources featured

  • EasyTeaching.net / EasyTeaching (channel/source providing the teaching lesson; no individual speaker is named in the subtitles)

Original video