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ACT English 3.3 Punctuation 656 Views


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Description:

ACT English Punctuation Drill 3, Problem 3. Where should we place the apostrophe to properly indicate possession?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by E-Mail. Because you can't BCC anyone on

00:09

a hand-written letter.

00:10

How should this sentence be changed so that it is grammatically correct?

00:12

He finished reading three friends's e-mails and responded to them immediately.

00:23

Apostrophes are tough, because they have a few different uses. They're more versatile

00:26

than Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

00:29

Real quick, let's review some of the ways apostrophes can be used.

00:32

Contractions. This one's been ingrained in us since we were kids.

00:36

Won't, isn't and I'm are all lazier ways to say Will not, Is not, and I am.

00:42

Next, we can use apostrophes to show possession. The purple unicorn's hat was stolen. The hat

00:48

is the unicorn's, so we put an apostrophe S after "unicorn."

00:53

If the clan of unicorns all lost their hats at the same time, there's another rule:

00:57

If something is the possession of a group, then you put the apostrophe after the S that

01:01

makes the noun plural. Okay, now let's go through our answer choices.

01:05

We'll never have a plural noun and THEN an apostrophe S, so the original sentence can't

01:09

be right. B doesn't tell us that there are multiple

01:11

friends in the equation based on the apostrophe.

01:13

If it was one friend's email, this would work, but we need the apostrophe after the S if

01:18

we are talking about a bunch of friends. Nothing about C is even close to right "friendses'"

01:23

is not a word. No matter how much fun it is to say.

01:26

We're left with D, which puts the apostrophe after the S, showing that the friends is plural.

01:31

We hope you remember this when it comes time to take your tests-es.

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