Tag: punctuation

Questions Related to punctuation

Choose the options that use the apostrophe correctly to indicate possession:

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. My wife's cooking is considered the best in the country.

  2. Greece has many beautiful island's.

  3. They own several splendid house's.

  4. The two boys' friendship has stood the test of time.

Show answer
Correct Option: A,D
Explanation:

Apostrophe is used to indicate possession. Apostrophe is used before 's' with singular nouns and after 's' with plural nouns. 
Option A: 'Wife' is a singular noun and 'cooking' is that of the 'wife', therefore 'wife's cooking' is correctly punctuated. 
Option B: 'Island' is marked with apostrophe followed by 's', but there is nothing mentioned that belongs to the island, therefore the use of apostrophe is not appropriate here. 
Option C: 'House' is marked with apostrophe followed by 's' but there is nothing mentioned that belongs to the house, therefore the use of apostrophe is not appropriate here either. 
Option D: 'Boys' is a plural noun and 'friendship' belongs to the two boys. Therefore, apostrophe is used appropriately here, ie. boys' friendship. 

Choose the option that has the apostrophes correctly placed in the sentence:

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. The teams manager's attitude was affecting all the player's performance.

  2. The team's manager's attitude was affecting all the players' performance.

  3. The teams manager's attitude was affecting all the players' performance.

  4. The team's manager's attitude was affecting all the player's performance.

Show answer
Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Apostrophe is used to indicate possession. Apostrophe is used before 's' with singular nouns and after 's' with plural nouns. Here, 'team' is a singular (collective) noun and 'manager' belongs to the team, therefore the proper use of apostrophe is 'team's manager'. Similarly, 'manager' is also singular and 'attitude' belongs to 'manager', therefore the proper usage of apostrophe will be manager's attitude. 'Players' is a plural noun and 'performance' is that of the players, therefore apostrophe will be used after the 's' in players and the punctuated form will be players' performance. Therefore, the correct option is: B) The team's manager's attitude was affecting all the players' performance.

Among the following sentences, only one has all the apostrophes correctly placed. Select that correct sentence.

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. The two buildings doors' and windows' were damaged in the blast.

  2. The two buildings door's and window's were damaged in the blast.

  3. The two buildings' doors and windows were damaged in the blast.

  4. The two building's doors and windows were damaged in the blast.

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Apostrophe is used to indicate possession. Apostrophe is used before 's' with singular nouns and after 's' with plural nouns. Here, 'buildings' is a plural noun and doors and windows belong to the buildings. Therefore, the correct use of apostrophe is: C) The two buildings' doors and windows were damaged in the blast. 

Among the following sentences, only one has all the apostrophes correctly placed. Identify that correct sentence.

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. The Roman's bridges and roads were vital for moving the troops' supplies.

  2. The Romans' bridges and roads were vital for moving the troops' supplies.

  3. The Romans' bridges and roads' were vital for moving the troop's supplies.

  4. The Romans bridge's and road's were vital for moving the troops supplies.

Show answer
Correct Option: B
Explanation:
According to general rule, only an apostrophe is used for nouns that are singular but have a final word in plural and end with an s. 
Therefore, the correct form of writing the possessive of Romans will be Romans'.
Similarly, the possessive of a plural noun is formed by adding only an apostrophe when the noun ends in s. Therefore, the correct form of writing the possessive of troops will be troops'.
Thus, by applying the rules of using apostrophe and eliminating the incorrect options, the correct answer must be Option B.



An incorrectly punctuated sentence is provided. Select the option that mentions the error:

New York's skyline has lost two of it's most famous buildings.

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. New York is a proper noun and does not need an apostrophe.

  2. 'It's' should not have an apostrophe as it's possessive.

  3. The buildings belong to the skyline and need an apostrophe after the 's'.

  4. There should be an apostrophe before the 's' in buildings. 

  5. All the above

Show answer
Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Apostrophe is used to indicate belonging. 'Its' is used to indicate possessiveness. 'It's' is the abbreviation of 'It is'. Here, apostrophe is not needed with 'It' because 'Its' is used to indicate possession and not an abbreviation. Therefore, the correct option is: B) 'It's' should not have an apostrophe as it's possessive. 

Most contemporary computers language is binary which is written using only two symbols, 0s and 1s.

Choose the option that best corrects the sentence.

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. NO CHANGE

  2. Most contemporary computers' language is binary which is written using only two symbols, 0's and 1's.

  3. Most contemporary computers' language is binary which is written using only two symbols, 0s and 1s.

  4. Most contemporary computer's language is binary which is written using only two symbols, 0's and 1's.

Show answer
Correct Option: B
Explanation:
According to general rule, plurals of single numbers are shown using an apostrophe and with a plural noun that already ends in s, the possessive is shown by only using an apostrophe.
Thus, according to the rules, the correct answer will be Option B. The remaining answers are incorrect.

There's going to be justice for all.

Choose the option that best corrects the underlined word.

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. Theres

  2. Theres'

  3. They're

  4. NO CHANGE

Show answer
Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Apostrophe can be used to show that a letter or letter(s) is missing from a word. In the given sentence, apostrophe replaces the letter 'i', and the two words (There and Is) are joined to make one. Thus, the given sentence is grammatically correct. No change is required in it. Hence, D is the right option. 

Choose the option that best corrects the underlined word:
Its a beautiful day!

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. It's

  2. Its'

  3. Its -

  4. NO CHANGE

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Apostrophe can be used to show that a letter or letter(s) is missing from a word. In the given sentence, apostrophe replaces the letter 'i', and the two words (It and Is) are joined to make one. Thus, option A is correct answer.

He passed through his father's alma mater, St. Pauls College, and got straight As.

Choose the option that best corrects the sentence.

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. NO CHANGE

  2. He passed through his father's alma mater, St. Paul's College, and got straight As.

  3. He passed through his fathers alma mater, St Paul's College, and got straight As.

  4. He passed through his father's alma mater, St. Paul's College, and got straight A's.

Show answer
Correct Option: D
Explanation:
According to general rule, the possessive of a singular noun is formed by adding an apostrophe and s, whether the singular noun ends in s or not. Therefore, in the given sentence, the possessive of the word father should be written as 'father's'.
The possessive is seldom used to form a plural noun. Thus, the plural of A can be written as 'A's'. 
Therefore, according to the rule, the correct answer will be Option D.

Choose the option that best corrects the underlined word:
I dont like the Impressionist style of painting.

apostrophe mark punctuation english

  1. do'nt

  2. dont'

  3. don't

  4. NO CHANGE

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Apostrophe can be used to show that a letter or letter(s) is missing from a word. It can be used to omit the letter or letter(s).  In the given sentence, 'dont' used is not correct. Here, apostrophe should be used to replace the letter 'o', and the two words (do and not) can be joined to make one word i.e don't. Thus, option C is correct.