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SAT Reading and Writing skill page

SAT Apostrophes and Possessives Practice

Decide whether a noun owns something, is plural, or needs a contraction before choosing an apostrophe.

Practice apostrophes and possessives in Dolphin SATPractice questions
8-12 min practice time3 questions on pageStandard English Conventions
Practice time8-12 min
Question bank3 questions
Best forStandard English Conventions

What this tests

What to know for this SAT skill

Dolphin question bank

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Question 1 of 3Easy

Photographer Ansel Adams’s landscape portraits are iconic pieces of American art. However, many of the of landscapes were intended not as art but as marketing; a concessions company at Yosemite National Park had hired Adams to take pictures of the park for restaurant menus and brochures.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
  1. photographer's early photo's
  2. photographers early photo's
  3. photographer's early photos
  4. photographers early photos
Show answer and solution
Correct answerC. photographer's early photos

Solution walkthrough

  1. Choice C is the best answer.
  2. There’s only one photographer (Adams), and the photos are his, so the singular possessive "photographer’s" is correct.
  3. There’s more than one photo, and nothing belongs to the photos, so the simple plural "photos" is correct. Choice A is incorrect.
  4. This choice uses the singular possessive "photo’s," which isn’t correct.
  5. There’s more than one photo, and they don’t possess anything, so the noun should be the simple plural "photos. "
Why the other choices miss
Choice B is incorrect. This choice uses the simple plural "photographers" and the singular possessive "photo’s," which aren’t correct. There’s only one photographer (Adams) and there’s more than one photo. Choice D is incorrect. This choice uses the simple plural "photographers," which isn’t correct. There’s only one photographer (Adams).
Question 2 of 3Medium

Slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo’s debut novel The Poet X, winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, is composed of protagonist, fifteen-year-old Xiomara Batista.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
  1. poems putatively written by the novel's
  2. poem's putatively written by the novel's
  3. poem's putatively written by the novels'
  4. poems putatively written by the novels'
Show answer and solution
Correct answerA. poems putatively written by the novel's

Solution walkthrough

  1. Choice A is the best answer.
  2. Nothing belongs to the “poems” in the sentence, so it should not be possessive—just a simple plural noun.
  3. The protagonist does belong to the novel—it’s the protagonist of the novel—so “novel” needs to be a singular possessive noun.
Why the other choices miss
Choice B is incorrect. This doesn’t complete the text in a way that conforms to the conventions of Standard English. This choice uses the singular possessive “poem’s,” but the text indicates that it should be the simple plural “poems”: there is more than one poem, and nothing belongs to the poems. Choice C is incorrect. This doesn’t complete the text in a way that conforms to the conventions of Standard English. This choice uses the singular possessive “poem’s,” but the text indicates that it should be the simple plural “poems”: there is more than one poem, and nothing belongs to the poems. This choice also uses the plural possessive “novels’,” which is incorrect because there is only one novel. Choice D is incorrect. This doesn’t complete the text in a way that conforms to the conventions of Standard English. This choice uses the plural possessive “novels’,” which is incorrect because there is only one novel, so it should be the singular possessive “novel’s.” .
Question 3 of 3Easy

Earth is not a perfect sphere. Due to the gravitational pull, Earth bulges out on the sides closest to and farthest from the Moon. This distorting pull is known as a tidal force, and it is responsible for the changes in water levels that are called high and low tides.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
  1. Moon's
  2. Moons
  3. Moons'
  4. Moon
Show answer and solution
Correct answerA. Moon's

Solution walkthrough

  1. Choice A is the best answer.
  2. The convention being tested is the use of possessive nouns.
  3. The singular possessive noun "Moon’s" correctly indicates that there is only one Moon, and it has a gravitational pull. Choice B is incorrect because the context requires the singular possessive noun "Moon’s," not the plural noun "Moons. "
Why the other choices miss
Choice C is incorrect because the context requires the singular possessive noun "Moon’s," not the plural possessive noun "Moons’. " Choice D is incorrect because the context requires the singular possessive noun "Moon’s," not the singular noun "Moon. "

Avoid these traps

Common mistakes on this skill

Using an apostrophe to form a plural

Most plurals take s without an apostrophe; apostrophes usually mark possession or omitted letters.

Confusing its and it is

Its is possessive. It's is the contraction for it is or it has.

Study plan

How to practice this skill in Dolphin

  1. Decide whether the noun is plural, possessive, or both before placing an apostrophe.
  2. For possession, identify whether the owner is singular or plural.
  3. Expand every contraction to confirm that the sentence still makes sense.
Practice apostrophes and possessives in Dolphin SAT

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FAQ

Questions about SAT Apostrophes and Possessives Practice

Where does the apostrophe go in a plural possessive?

For a regular plural already ending in s, place the apostrophe after the s, as in students' projects.

Why does its have no apostrophe?

Possessive pronouns such as its, his, hers, and theirs do not use apostrophes.