Apostrophes Exercise (572)
For each sentence, determine whether the use of an apostrophe is correct.
Answers and Explanations
Original: I visited the Jones’ last summer.
Correct : I visited the Joneses last summer.
The original sentence is not possessive; it refers to more than one person named Jones, so the plural form of "Jones" is required. If the sentence referred to something belonging to the Joneses, it would read, for example, "I visited the Joneses’ house last summer."
Original: The list consisted of a set of do’s and don’ts.
Correct : The list consisted of a set of dos and don’ts.
The phrase refers to a plurality of something called a do and a plurality of something called a don’t, so the proper form for each word is to simply add an "s."
Original: Target’s prices are lower than the prices at my favorite store.
Correct : Target’s prices are lower than the prices at my favorite store.
The reference is to something that belongs to Target—its prices, so "Target’s" is correct.
Original: Toward the late afternoon, the number of attendees swelled into the thousand’s.
Correct : Toward the late afternoon, the number of attendees swelled into the thousands.
"Thousands" is a plural, so only an "s," with no apostrophe, should be added to "thousand."
Original: Whatever he said to her, from her expression, it’s obvious that she’s not pleased.
Correct : Whatever he said to her, from her expression, it’s obvious that she’s not pleased.
Both "it’s" and "she’s" are contractions (of "it is" and "she is,") so apostrophes are correct in both cases.