Topic Summaries

Apostrophes

• If a noun is plural, the apostrophe goes after the ‘s’ at the end (e.g. The girl’s book = one girl owns the book; The girls’ book = multiple girls own the book).
• If a name ends with an ‘s’, you can either write the apostrophe and add an extra ‘s’ or leave it out – either option is fine, but pick one and be consistent (e.g. Doris’ sewing machine or Doris’s sewing machine).
• Use possessive apostrophes even if it is not a person doing the possessing (e.g. in two years’ time, today’s date, a day’s work).
• If you have a collective plural like children or people, then add a +’s like normal (e.g. children’s and people’s, not childrens’ or peoples’).
• You do not need apostrophes to indicate normal plural words (e.g. The dog’s were playing)

Its vs. it’s

• Its without an apostrophe shows possession (e.g. the dog ate its breakfast). It’s is a contraction for it is (e.g. it’s breakfast time!).
• To tell the two apart, try replacing it with the words ‘it is’ – if that works, then you need the apostrophe.

Comma splicing

• A comma splice is when two independent clauses (complete sentences) are incorrectly joined by a comma instead of a full stop. This creates a run-on sentence that lacks the proper conjunction or punctuation to separate ideas clearly. E.g. ‘I love reading, I find it very relaxing.’ or ‘The day was over, we had to go home.’
• To fix comma splices, you can: Replace the comma with a full stop to create two separate sentences (ideal if the sentence is already long). E.g. I love reading. I find it very relaxing.
• Remove the comma and use a conjunction (ideal if you want to clarify the relationship between the two ideas) E.g. The day was over so we had to go home.
• Use a semicolon and a conjunction (ideal if you want to add formality and sophistication). E.g. The day was over; therefore, we had to go home.