Possessive ‘s’ Year 4 Apostrophe SPaG Worksheets

This bright, appealing grammar worksheet is an excellent way to practise and revise using a possessive ‘s’ in Year 4. It is divided into five sections: understand, challenge, test, explain and apply.

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
  Add apostrophes to each of these sentences to show that the subjects are singular, then do the same for the next set to show they are plural
• Challenge
  Can you place each of these words into sentences?
• Test
  Tick the box to show if the word in bold is singular or plural, then rewrite the sentences in the possessive form
• Explain
  Using your own words, explain when to use an apostrophe before an ‘s’, and give examples
• Apply
  Imagine that you are at the market scene in the image provided. What can you see, hear, smell, touch or taste? What might be in the next street? Write a passage about this scene, include at least five possessive apostrophes to show you know how to use them

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

This resource is part of the SPaG Gym collection.
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• Worksheets featuring five sections: understand challenge test explain and apply. Activities include SATs style questions and opportunities for creative writing responses with eye-catching images as prompts