ELA

Misusing Apostrophes to Make Plurals

Students add an apostrophe before s to make a regular noun plural.

Quick check

Why students make it

Students see apostrophes before s in possessive words like "dog's" and contractions like "it's." They start to think apostrophe plus s means "more than one."

The rule done right

Use s or es to make most nouns plural. Use an apostrophe plus s only to show ownership or to make a contraction.

Related resources

apostrophespluralspossessives