“Spelling” on the GED refers to apostrophes and homonyms

1. “Spelling” on the GED refers to apostrophes and homonyms

2. The apostrophe has two main uses: • 1) to form possessives of nouns • 2) to show the omission of letters

3. Forming possessives of nouns Follow these rules to create a possessive. If you’re not sure where to place the apostrophe, ask yourself “whose thing is it?” – the apostrophe goes after the person or thing who has the object. You can also turn it into an “of” phrase. • add 's to the word (even if it ends in -s): the owner's car – whose car? The car belongs to the owner James's hat – the hat belongs to James – the hat of James • add 's if it’s a plural that doesn’t end in s: the children's game – Whose game? The game “belongs” to the children the geese's honking – The honking of the geese • add 's to the end of compound words: my brother-in-law's money – the money belongs to the brother-in-law. • add 's to the last noun if it belongs to more than one person: Todd and Anne's apartment – the apartment belongs to Todd and Anne. • add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s: houses' roofs – the roofs “belong” to the houses three friends' letters – the letters “belong” to the friends.

4. Caution!Don't use apostrophes for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals. Mine, your, yours, his, hers, their, theirs, ours, and its are all possessive pronouns. Never use an apostrophe to make a noun plural. Here are some examples: wrong: his' book correct: his book wrong: The group made it's decision. correct: The group made its decision. wrong: a friend of yours' correct: a friend of yours wrong: She waited for three hour’s to get her ticket. correct: She waited for three hours to get her ticket.

5. Showing omission of letters • Apostrophes are used in contractions. A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go.

6. Here are some examples: don't = do not I'm = I am he'll = he will who's = who is shouldn't = should not didn't = did not could've = could have (NOT "could of"!) '60 = 1960

7. Proofreading for apostrophes: A good time to proofread is when you have finished writing the paper. Try the following strategies: • If you tend to leave out apostrophes, check every word that ends in -s or -es to see if it needs an apostrophe. • If you tend to put in too many apostrophes, check every apostrophe to see if you can justify it with a rule. Remember: Apostrophes are NOT used for plurals

8. Homonyms Homonyms Homo – same, like, similar Nym – name Homonyms are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings

9. Some of the most commonly misspelled homonyms are words we’ve already seen when we were talking about apostrophes It’s, Its They’re, Their You’re, Your These words sound the same but, depending on whether or not there’s an apostrophe, they mean different things.

10. Note that there is a capitalization “quiz”. You don’t need a lecture for that - just go over the rules listed on pages 71 and 72. • Try the apostrophes practice activity on page 74 and check your answers against the key posted on BB. • Review the common homonyms on pages 75-77 and then complete the homonym activity and check your answers against the answer key.