Use Apostrophes for Possession with Tricky Plural Words

How do you know if something belongs to someone? Or if belongs to just one person or lots of people? 

Well that's one of the things apostrophes are for! 

One of the uses of the apostrophe is to show possession, which means who something belongs to.

For example:

The girl's ball = the ball belonging to the girl

What if the ball belongs to more than one girl?

If the ball belongs to more than one girl, we make the world into a plural by adding s, then place the apostrophe at the end of the word.

The girls' ball = the ball belonging to all the girls. Not just one. Can you see the difference? 

The word girl is a singular noun, but the word girls is a plural noun (plural means 'more than one').

Most plural nouns in English end in 's' so the apostrophe comes after the 's'.

Sometimes, a plural word might have an -es or -ies ending.

Let's look at some examples:

babies

parties

potatoes

wolves

When something 'belongs' to one of these words, we put the apostrophe at the end of the word, just like we did with girls' earlier on. 

For example:

The wolf's prey = the prey of one wolf (Apostrophe then the S on the end)

The wolves' prey = the prey of several wolves (Make the word plural, then add the apostrophe on the end)

I think you possess the skills to try some questions. Let's practise using apostrophes to show possession with plural nouns.