🏁 Don’t forget the apostrophe when you add a word to ‘I’ to make something that is quicker and easier to say, like writing I would as I’d. Here are the main ones:
I had/I would/ = I’d
I will = I’ll
I am = I’m
I have = I’ve
Once the I is written as a capital, it’s followed by an apostrophe, to cover the letters we’ve taken out, and lastly we add what’s left of the word (always a verb in these cases- if you don’t remember what a verb is, don’t worry, that’s coming up soon).
📲 💻You can use this link to a Google Form so you can test you’ve got it.
🔆 Get these ones? You can go to Skill 15.
like this Cadillac.
🛠 Need a bit more practise? Read on.
🎯 📝 See if you can re-write the following text, correcting all the mistakes someone has made:
i’d just got home when the doorbell rang. “i’am not falling for that one again,” I thought to myself. “Ive already got enough to do. Im late for work and ill need to have my shower.”
id been right. It was my mate at the door. He wanted to borrow fifty quid.
“im in the bath,” I shouted out the window, “and ive got no money anyway!”
“But im skint,” my mate called back, “and ill pay you back, ill get paid tomorrow!”
So I gave in and leant him £50. Three weeks later, im still waiting to get it back!
✅ Your corrected text should look like this:
I‘d just got home when the doorbell rang. “I’m not falling for that one again,” I thought to myself. “I’ve already got enough to do. I’m late for work and I’ll need to have my shower.”
I’d been right. It was my mate at the door. He wanted to borrow fifty quid.
“I’m in the bath,” I shouted out the window, “and I’ve got no money anyway!”
“But I’m skint,” my mate called back, “and I’ll pay you back, I’ll get paid tomorrow!”
So I leant him £50. Three weeks later, I’m still waiting to get it back!
🚦 Time for more?
When we write less formally (more like how most of us really speak), we often run words together so we don’t have to say the words separately. Lots of people get wrong how you add a word to ‘I,’ especially if they also forget to use a capital for the I (see skill 1).
🎓 The examples above are omissive apostrophes, because they are used when we have left out (omitted) letters to put words together.
🎯 💻 If your device has Flash Player, this exercise tests your omissive (contracting) apostrophes. Click on it then go to ‘Main session part 1’ on the bottom left of the screen. It asks you to click on both words that can be contracted, for example there and is, which becomes there’s (needs Flash):
http://resources.hwb.wales.gov.uk/VTC/apostrophes_con_poss/eng/Introduction/default.htm