GED Reasoning Through Language Arts
Apostrophes & Possessives
Apostrophes do exactly two jobs: they show ownership (the dog's bowl) and they mark missing letters in contractions (don't = do not). They never, ever make a word plural. Most test errors are its/it's and plurals wearing apostrophes they didn't earn.
The words first
- possessive
- ownership form: the student's essay
- contraction
- two words squeezed together: it's = it is
- plural
- just more than one — NO apostrophe: three dogs
- its vs it's
- its = belonging to it; it's = it is. The single most-tested pair.
The method
THE TWO JOBS
ownership: the teacher's desk (one teacher)
the teachers' lounge (many teachers — s then ')
contraction: they're = they are can't = cannot
NEVER FOR PLURALS
✗ Apple's for sale ✓ Apples for sale
ITS vs IT'S — the expansion test
Read it as "it is." Does the sentence survive?
"IT'S going to rain" → "it is going to rain" ✓ → apostrophe
"The dog wagged IT'S tail" → "it is tail" ✗ → its, no apostrophe
THE FAMILY OF TRAPS
they're / their / there you're / your whose / who's
Same test every time: expand the contraction and listen.
Worked all the way through
The problem
Choose: "The company changed (its / it's) refund policy after (customers / customer's) complained."
- Step 1 — Test the first blank by expanding."changed it is refund policy" — nonsense. So no contraction: its.
- Step 2 — Confirm the job.The policy belongs to the company — possessive its, which never takes an apostrophe.
- Step 3 — Test the second blank.Do the customers own anything here? No — there are just many of them complaining. Plain plural.
- Step 4 — Plurals get no apostrophe.customers.
On the board
"it is refund policy" ✗
expansion fails → its
its = belonging to it
possessive, no apostrophe
many customers, owning nothing
plain plural
customers ✓
no apostrophe
Answer
its … customers
A second one, in a different form
Where does the apostrophe go: the locker room shared by many players?
owners: players (plural)
plural ending in s → apostrophe AFTER the s
the players' locker room ✓
Answer
the players' locker room
The usual mistake
Adding an apostrophe to a simple plural.
Check yourself
Two questions settle every apostrophe: (1) can I expand it into two words? then it's a contraction. (2) does something belong to it? then possessive. Neither? Then no apostrophe — it is just a plural.
Practice it
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