Apostrophes: Identify, Insert, Use

A Check your understanding

Circle the possessive apostrophes in these sentences. Are they single or plural?

1 The monster’s eyes were yellow and terrifying.2 They took the cat’s toy away to calm it down. George felt less

frightened now.3 Gradually, the girls’ fear of heights began to pass.4 James’s fear of water made it impossible for him to join in.5 Tom’s nephews eventually came home just before dusk. The boys’

clothes were oddly covered in a glowing slime.6 The Octopuses’ tentacles grabbed at the boys’ legs. They fell into

the water and began screaming.7 The Octopus’s tentacles grabbed at the boy’s legs. He fell into the

water and began screaming.

B Explore possession using apostrophes

Annotate this extract, adding apostrophes for possession.

Chloes hands felt cold and clammy. She was nervous about going to the Robinsons house because they had two large dogs. Chloe had been petrified of dogs ever since her neighbours Alsatian had barked and bared his teeth at her on the way to school last year. Dogs barks were a common sound in Chloes street, but usually it didn’t bother her because they were in back gardens or locked up safely inside. Anguss and Geordies barks were like no other. They were loud and aggressive and even the neighbours huge Labrador was terrified of them. Chloe loved playing at Jake Robinsons house, but she did not like his dogs.

C Use possessive apostrophes in writing

Write about someone’s fears using the excerpt in section B as a model. Try to include a range of plural and singular possessive apostrophes.

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. fears_N042RE2_resources

Unit 2 Day 1

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. fears_N042RE2_resources

Apostrophes - ANSWERS

A Check your understanding

Circle the possessive apostrophes in these sentences. Are they single or plural?

1 The monster’s eyes were yellow and terrifying. SINGLE2 They took the cat’s toy away to calm it down. George felt less

frightened of it now. SINGLE3 Slowly, the girls’ fear of heights began to pass. PLURAL4 James’s fear of water made it impossible for her to join in. SINGLE5 Tom’s nephews eventually came home just before dusk. The boys’

clothes were oddly covered in a glowing slime. SINGLE and PLURAL

6 The Octopuses’ tentacles grabbed at the boys’ legs. They fell into the water and began screaming. PLURAL and PLURAL

7 The Octopus’s tentacles grabbed at the boy’s legs. He fell into the water and began screaming. SINGLE and SINGLE

B Explore possession using apostrophes

Annotate this extract, adding apostrophes for possession.

Chloe’s hands felt cold and clammy. She was nervous about going to the Robinsons’ house because they had two large dogs. Chloe had been petrified of dogs ever since her neighbour’s Alsatian had barked and bared his teeth at her on the way to school last year. Dogs’ barks were a common sound in Chloe’s street, but usually it didn’t bother her because they were in back gardens or locked up safely inside. Angus’s and Geordie’s barks were like no other. They were loud and aggressive and even the neighbour’s huge Labrador was terrified of them. Chloe loved playing at Jake Robinson’s house, but she did not like his dogs.

Unit 2 Day 1© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. fears_N042RE2_resources

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. fears_N042RE2_resources

Make up a phobia: Ensure your phobia is in the plural

form and belongs specifically to someone or something – a fear of babies’ socks, a fear of caterpillars’ legs. The funnier

the better!

Think of a name – This is the person who has the phobia. They will have a single-form

possessive apostrophe (e.g. Mr Tomlinson becomes Mr

Tomlinson’s; Katya becomes Katya’s)

Write a sentence about your phobia using possessive

apostrophes: Mr Tomlinson’s fear of babies’ socks makes it very tricky to dress his son in

the morning.

Unit 2 Day 2

Recount Features

Unit 2 Day 3© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. fears_N042RE2_resources

Prompt Sheet

TIPS:

Include descriptions of what you thought and how you felt

Vary your sentence structures

USE:

Past tense

Adjectives

Adverbs/ adverbials for time: first, next, then, after that, meanwhile, later, earlier, eventually, a few months/ weeks/ days/ hours/ minutes/ seconds/ later, finally

USE PARAGRAPHS FOR:

1. Introduction Who? What? Where? When?

2. Events described in order

3. Sum up at the end

WILL YOU USE:

First person: I, me, we, my ORThird person: he, she, his, her, they, their

REPORT SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

Help your reader imagine what it was like, being there