This bright, appealing PDF grammar worksheet is an excellent way to practise and revise using a plural or possessive ‘s’ in Y4.
Activities include SATs-style questions and opportunities for creative writing responses, with eye-catching images as prompts.
This primary resource is divided into five sections:
- Understand
Tick the boxes to show which sentences use the ‘s’ for possession and which ones use it for plurals
- Challenge
Fill in each row in the ‘single’/‘plural’/‘possessive’ table. The first one has been done for you. Then complete your own table
- Test
Rewrite these sentences, changing the bold word to a plural, then circle the word in bold which best completes each sentence
- Explain
Using your own words, explain when you would add an ‘s’ for possession and when you would add one for a plural
- Apply
“All of a sudden, I heard a crash upstairs!” Continue this story, using as many words listed as you can
What is an apostrophe?
Apostrophes have two completely different uses:
- Apostrophes for contraction: Showing the place of missing letters (eg I’m for I am)
- Apostrophes for possession: Marking possessives (eg Hannah’s mother)
Possessive apostrophe rules
The apostrophe is placed after the plural form of the word; -s is not added if the plural already ends in -s, but is added if the plural does not end in -s (ie is an irregular plural – eg children’s)
Possessive apostrophe examples
Singular possessive apostrophe
- Megan’s book
- Ravi’s bag
- the girl’s hair
- the child’s toy
- the man’s smile
Plural possessive apostrophe
- girls’ school
- boys’ toilets
- babies’ clothes
- children’s games
- men’s ties
- mice’s tails
National Curriculum English programme of study links
Learning the possessive apostrophe (singular) [for example, the girl’s book]
Place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals [for example, girls’, boys’] and in words with irregular plurals [for example, children’s]
Indicating possession by using the possessive apostrophe with plural nouns