The apostrophe in English is used for two reasons: to indicate an abbreviation and ownership - something belongs to someone. The rules for using an apostrophe are different depending on the type of word. Apostrophes help make text clearer and shorter.

Steps

Part 1

Use an apostrophe to indicate ownership

    Use an apostrophe after a proper name to indicate ownership. An apostrophe and an "s" after a proper noun mean that the person, place, or thing owns what follows its name or title. For example, "Mary "s lemons" (Mary's lemons). We know that Mary's lemons belong to "s". Other examples: "China" s foreign policy "( foreign policy China) and "the orchestra" s conductor "(the conductor of the orchestra).

    • Indicating ownership can be tricky, and there are exceptions. For example, the phrase “Sunday's football game” (Sunday football match, literally “Sunday's football match”) is technically incorrect (since Sunday cannot have anything), but it is absolutely acceptable in writing and colloquial speech. “A hard day's work” (hard work, literally “hard day's work”) is also an absolutely correct phrase, despite the fact that a day cannot own anything.

  1. Be consistent in using an apostrophe after words ending in "s". When someone's name ends in "s", you can use an apostrophe without the trailing "s" to indicate ownership, but linguists in the Chicago Manual of Style, along with many others, prefer to put the "s" after the apostrophe.

    • Notice the difference in usage:
      • Acceptable: Jones" house (Jones' house); Francis" window (Francis window); Enders "family (Enders family).
      • Preferably: Jones "s house (Jones' house); Francis" s window (Francis's window); Enders's family (Enders family).
    • Whatever style you prefer to use, stick with it. It doesn't matter which option you choose, it's important that you stick with it.

  2. Do not use an apostrophe to indicate possession with the pronoun "it".“China's foreign policy” (China's foreign policy) is correct, but let's say the reader already knows that you are talking about China and you replace the name of the country with a pronoun. If you plan to indicate that something belongs to China in this way, you need say "its foreign policy" (his foreign policy), but not "it" s.

    • The reason is to avoid confusion between "its" (his, her) used to indicate ownership, and "it "s" used as an abbreviation for "it is". If you are not sure whether to use an apostrophe or not, try instead of "it" s / its" substitute in the sentence "it is" or "it has". If the phrase changes or loses its meaning, the apostrophe is not needed. For example, the phrase "it is foreign policy" (this is foreign policy) cannot be replaced by the phrase "China's foreign policy" (China's foreign policy), so write "its" without an apostrophe.

  3. Use an apostrophe to indicate ownership if the noun is in plural. One of the most common mistakes is using an apostrophe to indicate that something belongs not to one person, but to a family. Let's say the Smart family has a boat. To indicate the ownership of the boat, the apostrophe will be used as follows "the Smarts" boat "(Smart's boat), and not" the Smart "s boat" (Smart's boat). Since we're talking about all the members of the Smart family, we're making the family name plural, "Smarts." And since all Smarts (at least presumably) own a boat, we add an apostrophe after the "s".

    • If the last name ends in "s", pluralize it before adding the apostrophe. For example, if you wanted to discuss a family named Williams (Williams family), then in the plural they would become "the Williamses" (Williams). If you wanted to point to their dog, you would say "the Williamses" dog" (Williams dog). If you think that this construction does not sound too smooth - especially with a more complex surname - you can say "the Williams family" ( the Williams family) and "the Williams family" s dog "(the dog of the Williams family).
    • If you are listing all the owners of a particular object, know where to put the apostrophe. For example, if both John and Mary own a cat, you should write it as "John and Mary"s cat" (John and Mary's cat), not "John"s and Mary"s cat". "John and Mary" in in this case are collective noun, and so only one apostrophe is needed.

    Part 2

    Do not use an apostrophe for education plural

    Part 3

    Use an apostrophe in abbreviations

    1. Use of apostrophes in abbreviations. Sometimes, especially in informal writing, apostrophes are used to indicate that one or more letters in a letter are omitted. For example, the word "don" t" is an abbreviation for "do not", "isn" t "("is not"), "wouldn" t" ("would not"), and "can" t" ("cannot "). You can also abbreviate the verbs "is", "has", and "have". For example, we can write "She" s going to school" instead of "She is going to school", "He" s lost the game" instead of "He has lost the game" or "They" ve gone away" instead of "They have gone away".

      Be careful with "its" and "it "s". Use an apostrophe with the word "it" only when you want to indicate the abbreviation "it is" or "it has". "It" is a pronoun, and pronouns have their own possessive form that doesn't require an apostrophe. For example: “That noise? It's just the dog eating its bone ”(What is this noise? This is a dog chewing on its bone). It may seem complicated, but “its” is formed in the same way as other possessive pronouns: his (him), hers (her), its (his / her), yours (your), ours (our), theirs ( their).

      If you write written letters, always append the letters after the apostrophe to those before it. For example, if you want to write "she" s, first write "shes" together, and then add an apostrophe.

    • When in doubt, always remember that apostrophes are almost always used with nouns to indicate ownership. Avoid using apostrophes for anything else.
    • In the case of a name ending in "s", linguists from the Chicago Manual of Style recommend adding "s" after the apostrophe: for example, "Charles" s bike "(Charles' bike). If your teacher requires you to adhere to one or another rule, if there are no requirements, just choose your preferred form, but be consistent and stick to the same form for a given written work(essays, letters, etc.).
    • The Elements of Style book by W. Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White - handy quick guide in spelling and punctuation. Try to find it on the Internet and use it when writing in English.

The ending -ED deserves a separate article, first of all, because it opens up a new level of communication for students: the past tense. By learning how to use the -ED ending, you gain a new language tool expressing your thoughts and can already communicate with the interlocutor on new topics that were difficult to discuss using the present tense.

We first encounter the -ED ending at the elementary level when we start learning English. Then we learn to divide verbs into correct And . The ending -ED is only added to regular verbs to form the second and third forms of the verb. The second form is used to form time. But it is not enough just to remember that the verb with the ending -ED is used in the past tense. It is also necessary to understand the peculiarities of using the ending, namely the pronunciation and spelling of verbs with the ending -ED.

Pronunciation

The first nuance that is often overlooked by both teachers and students is the pronunciation of the ending. As soon as it is not pronounced, and most often incorrectly. When learning the pronunciation of any ending, remember that the ending is added to the word, not the word to the ending, so the ending will fit the word, not the other way around. The verb always retains its sound. If, by adding an ending, the pronunciation of the verb changes, then you pronounce it incorrectly.

To understand how to pronounce the ending -ED with a particular verb, you must pay attention to the last sound of the verb.

After the sounds /t/ and /d/ , the ending is pronounced /ɪd/ , otherwise it will be very difficult for you to pronounce the word:

Count - counted
end - ended
invite - invited
land - landed
start - started
visit - visited
wait - waited

Remember that the -ED ending is never /ed/ , only /ɪd/ , or just /t/ or /d/ .

If the verb ends in clunk: /p/, /h/, /s/, /k/, /f/, /tʃ/, /ʃ/, then the ending is pronounced dull: / t /:

Ask - asked
clap-clapped
dress - dressed
help - helped
like - liked
touch - touched
wash - washed

If the verb ends in voiced or vowel, then the ending is pronounced loudly: / d /:

answer - answered
call - called
cry-cry
love - loved
move-moved
phone-phoned
play-played

Unfortunately, many students openly neglect the pronunciation of the -ED ending and pronounce it the way they think is correct. Since in Russian we deafen the voiced endings of words without noticing it ourselves: we pronounce "slap"(bread), "boot"(boot), "snack"(snow) and so on, then in English we pronounce words according to the same principle, without thinking. In English, voiced sounds cannot be deafened. This leads not only to terrible pronunciation, but also to the distortion of words.

For example, if you stun the ending in the word played, then you get pleɪT. A plate is a plate. If you say /lɪFt/ instead of /lɪVd/ in the word lived, then you get a completely different word - lift, which translates to “raise”.

There are many such examples. You will never get rid of the accent and get a good one. English pronunciation, if you will stun the endings, so feel free to practice, it is better to pronounce the word slowly, but clearly, without distorting the sounds.

Writing

We figured out the pronunciation, now let's look at the rules for writing the ending -ED with verbs.

Most often, the ending is simply added to the stem of the verb and no change in spelling occurs:

open - opened
call - called
look - looked
listen - listened
talk - talked

There are a number of rules that come into play when the -ED ending is added to a verb.

    If the verb already ends in -E, then only -D is added to it:

    smile - smiled
    bake-baked
    close-closed
    live - lived
    move-moved

    The rule that is important to pay attention to is the addition of an ending to a verb that ends in -Y . According to the previous experience of adding endings (plural formation or Present Simple, since if you are already familiar with past simple, then by default Present has already been mastered by you) you remember that if a word ends in -Y, then something must happen to it when the ending is added. From this arise all sorts of interesting spellings that are not always correct.

    play-played
    enjoy—enjoyed
    prey-preyed
    stay - stayed
    employ - employed

    If the correct verb you want to use in the Past Simple ends in consonant followed by -Y , then with clear conscience you can replace Y with I and add -ED :

    Copy - copied
    cry-cry
    try - tried
    spy - spied
    tidy - tidied

    If the verb ends in one consonant preceded by a stressed vowel ( closed stressed syllable), then before adding the ending -ED, the last consonant is doubled:

    Star-starred
    stop - stopped
    drop - dropped
    rob - robbed
    beg-begged
    refer - referred
    prefer - preferred

    If the verb ends in two consonants, then the ending is simply added and nothing changes:

    Climb-climbed
    comb - combined
    start - started

    When the verb consists of several syllables, and the last syllable is unstressed, then the last consonant is not doubled:

    Benefit-benefited
    profit-profited

    British English (BrE) has a few exception verbs that have a doubled consonant before the -ED ending, despite the stress:

    Travel-travelled
    quarrel - quarrelled
    label - labeled
    signal - signalled

In American English, these words do not double the final consonant.

Usage

Now let's talk about the use of verbs with the ending -ED.

The main use of this verb form is: past time Simple. By the way, verbs with an ending can only be found in the affirmative form Past Simplebecause it appears in negative and interrogative sentences auxiliary DID and the main verb remain in the first form, with no endings.

For regular verbs, the second and third forms are the same, therefore, in all tenses of the Perfect group, we will also encounter verbs with the ending -ED in all types of statements.

Interested - interested
motivated - motivated
prepared - prepared
isolated - isolated
recommended - recommended

It is important to remember that the ending can only be added to the correct verbs, and the wrong ones can simply be learned. If you have a problem with this - use our.

If you have just started learning English, then it is at this stage that it is important to learn the features that we talked about in this article, because in the future more complex aspects await you. foreign language. Thus, by remembering the simple features of using the -ED ending at the very beginning, you will make it easier for yourself in the future.

I wish you success! Learn English with pleasure!

We have already talked about the Present Simple with a linking verb. to be (am / is / are). Let me just remind you that there are their own, Present Simple.

Now let's look at Present Simple with ordinary verbs. Let's look at the rules of Present Simple - according to what laws does the present simple time live in English?

And learn the secrets of pronunciation. Yes, yes, the good old Present Simple has its own pronunciation features! And even if you are already an advanced English user, you may learn something new. For example, what is whadaya?

However, you will hear everything yourself))

Statements in Present Simple

The rules of Present Simple hint that statements in the present tense are the simplest things that can be in the English language.

A statement requires only a verb. Sometimes the ending -s / -es is added to the verb.

I
We
You
they
live in Moscow.
He
She
It
work s .

See, yes, what with the pronouns he / she / it, -s or -es is added to the verb?

Sometimes instead of pronouns there can be a noun. But the essence of this does not change. If it's hard to know right away if you need to add -s to the verb, just think about what you can replace the noun with:

Noun
Pronoun
-s or without -s
the show
it
The show start s at 8.
his car
it
His car break s down all the time.
your boyfriend
he
Your boyfriend seem s nice.
Bill Gates
he
Bill Gates earn s a lot.
J.K. Rowling
she
J.K. Rowling write s great books.
her children
they
Her children go to school.
british people
they
British people drink tea at 5.
me and my dad
we
Me and my dad play football.

How to spell the ending -s/ -es


Verb
Verb ending -s / -es
add -s
listen
read
live
like
play
stay
listens
reads
lives
likes
plays[z]
stays[z]
y change to ie
study
party
studies
parties
add -es
after sh, ch, s
finish
watch
teach
finishes [ʃiz]
watches [ʧiz]
teaches [ʧiz]
exceptions
have
do
go
has
does
goes

Pronunciation of the ending -s / -es

Listen:

And now how all this can sound in fluent speech:

He sits right next to me.

He talks and laughs a lot.

He tells jokes every day after class.

It seems like you"re interested in him.

He already has a girlfriend.

Negatives in Present Simple

The rules of Present Simple are again simple. Negations are formed with don't or doesn't. This is a conversational option. Official documents often use the full form do not And does not:

Pronunciation of don't and doesn't

In fluent speech don't And doesn't often lose the last sound [t]. Listen to an example:

Questions in Present Simple

Questions in Present Simple are different: general and special.

Common questions are yes/no questions:

pronunciation of you

Do you still say Doo Yu?)) Then we go to you! Indeed, in fluent speech, no one pronounces do you. More often do you in speech sounds like:

  • [ʧjə]

Listen to examples:

  • Do you know the time?
  • Do you have a light?
  • Do you speak English?
  • Do you understand?
  • Do you have milk?
  • What do you do?

And in these examples, not only is there practically nothing left of DO, but also YOU ​​becomes similar to YA. Listen to pronunciation examples:

And after all, who would have thought, right?))) And often it is because of ignorance of such features that it is difficult to understand English.

Is it true that the rules of Present Simple are simple? And is it not for nothing that the present simple tense in English is called that?

These are actually all the endings that occur in it. Unlike the Russian language, which is rich in various endings. Due to the fact that there are only three endings in English, their use is found everywhere: in verbs, and in nouns, and in adjectives, and in gerunds, and in participles. Let's take a closer look at each of the endings and identify the most common cases of their use.

Ending s in English

So the ending -s in English (also -es) is used in the following cases:

  1. The plural of nouns is formed by adding the ending -s to the noun:

    2. cat - cats;
    table - tables;
    disk - disks;
    window - windows.

  2. If a noun ends in -ss, -x, -z, -ch, -sh, or -o, then -es is added:

    3. fox - foxes;
    bush - bushes;
    potatoes - potatoes
    dress - dresses.

  3. However, nouns borrowed from other languages ​​and ending in -o add the ending -s:

    4. photo - photos;
    piano-pianos.

  4. The ending - s in English (also - es) is used when using verbs in the third person singular in Present Simple (for he, she, it):

    5. I play - he plays;
    We go - she goes;
    They see - it sees;

  5. This ending is also used to form the possessive case of nouns, which is written with an apostrophe:

    6. my mother's coat - my mother's coat;
    brother's cup - brother's cup;
    Susan's sister - Suzanne's sister.

  6. If the noun is in the plural or ends in -s, put only an apostrophe after:

    7. his parents' anniversary - the anniversary of his parents;
    students' books - students' books;
    Lucas' wife - Lucas' wife.

Ending ed in English

When is the ending ed used in English?

  1. If the verb is used in the Past Simple and it is correct, the ending -ed must be added to it:

    2. She wached the concert yesterday. She watched the concert yesterday.
    He looked for it two days ago. - He was looking for him two days ago.
    I borrowed this dress from a friend. I borrowed this dress from a friend.

  2. This ending is also used when we are talking about the third form of the regular verb (past participle) in Perfect tenses:

    3. She has learned English since she was 5.
    The snow had stopped when we arrived.
    I will have dressed the baby by 10 a.m.

  3. A verb ending in -ed is sometimes translated as an adjective (what? what? what?)

    4. folded T-shirt - folded T-shirt;
    blessed marriage - blessed marriage;
    opened door - open door.

Always look to see if a noun follows such a word in order to know which part of speech is more correct to translate a verb with an ending; ed.

Ending ing in English

When is the ending ing used in English?

  1. If we are talking about the fourth form of the verb (or present participle) - the times of the Continuous group:

    2. She is typing now.
    He was walking along the street when he saw an accident.
    I will be reading tomorrow at 5 p.m.

  2. We can also translate a word ending in -ing as an adjective if it is followed by a noun related to it:

    3. sleeping baby - sleeping baby;
    crying lady - crying woman;
    boring book - a boring book.

  3. You can also translate a word with the ending - ing noun (see the Gerund topic) - it all depends on the context and word order:

    4. Stealing is a crime. - Theft is a crime.
    Walking is good for your health. - Walking is good for health.
    I like dancing. - I love dance.

Endings -es and -s are quite common in English. Every English learner needs to understand the rules for using the above endings.

This article will help you quickly and easily understand the essence of this grammatical material. So the ending -s can serve:

1) an indicator of 3 liters. units h. verb in;
2) sign;
3) an indicator of the possessive case of nouns;
4) reduction.

Rules for using the ending -s / -es have their own specifics. In the affirmative form of the third person singular, the ending is usually added to the verb -s, BUT after root stems on -sh, -ss, -o etc. (see the rule below) we use the ending - es. For example,

Pass - passes;
Kiss - kisses;
Finish - finishes;
Wash-washes;
Do - does;
Go - goes.

Ending -s in Present Simple

We use the present simple tense to express regular actions or constant situations. Ending -s in the third person singular. h. (he, she, it) in time English verb Present Simple should be added in cases where the subject matches the pronouns "he", "she" or "it".

Rules for writing verbs in the third person singular in Present Simple

If the verb ends in –ss, sh, ch, x, o- the ending is added -es .

I always wash up at home.
He always wash es up at home.

If the word ends into a consonant followed by -y, then -y changes to -i plus is added -es .

I sometimes cry.
Baby sometimes cr ies.

If the last letter of the verb is a vowel -y, then only -s .

I often play with this toy ship in the afternoon.
Alla often play s with this toy ship in the afternoon.

Reading verb endings in the third person singular

Remember: In the negative and interrogative forms, where the auxiliary verb is used does(not), the main verb is devoid of endings -s, -es .

Does she sing every day?
Ann doesn't go to that college.

Don't forget about the spelling of the verbs to have and. If these verbs are in the third person singular, then they change dramatically. This can be seen in the following examples:

Daddy has much money.
Jane is tired of doing numerous exercises.

Ending -s on nouns

Ending -s occurs not only in verbs, but also in nouns. In the case of nouns, such endings, as a rule, are also found in the plural, or in the possessive case. If we are talking about people and animals in the possessive case, then we use ’ s in the case of one actor.

This is the girl s doll. - It's a girl's doll.
The cat' s tail is long. - The cat's tail is long.

But you should use s' if two or more are involved actors, people or animals.

These are the boy s' boots. - These are boys' boots.

In English, there are exception nouns that create the possessive case in the following way:

Those are the men 's hats. Those are men's hats.

See the full list of such exceptions.

Abbreviations with 's

And finally 's can be not only an indicator of the possessive case, but also an abbreviation. For example:

it is = it's
that is = that's
let us = let's
How long has it been? = How long's it been?

Other abbreviations can be studied in more detail and.