Common student issues in Lesson 1.8: Plurals & Possessives
We teach students about how to write plural and possessive words after they complete our lesson on editing sentences because these conventions require strong attention to tiny details. There’s a lot of s flying around, as well as apostrophes. It’s easy to get confused and put an ’s on everything—just in case. So, how do you help your child avoid a bad case of “slap an ’s on it”?
Common issues kids run into when they learn about plurals and possessives & how to help:
Confusing plurals and possessives (e.g., cats vs. cat’s). These kids often have not yet paid close enough attention to the details of their writing, so they throw an ’s or s onto anything moving and call it a day. A hiss is a hiss, right?
How to help: If your child writes a plural as a possessive, ask them whether the word is a plural or possessive and how they’d figure this out. If they’re not sure, ask what the word is possessing—a cat? An idea? A jacket? Your child will notice that the word possesses nothing … because it’s a plural, not a possessive. Modeling this question will give your child a way to test on their own whether a word is a plural or possessive.
Confusing the present tense of a verb with a plural (e.g., sings versus singers). The simple present tense form of most verbs ends in an s (e.g., sings, eats, sleeps). So, kids who are whizzing through their work can confuse these words with plural words.
How to help: Explain verb tenses and that many simple present tense verbs end in an s. Give examples. Point out to your child that these words are not plurals even though they end in s. Many kids simply don’t know about different verb tenses. They vary their verb tenses instinctively, which is good, but they can’t analyze what they’re doing. So, explaining verb tenses a bit and pointing out that they’re different from plurals usually helps them notice the difference.
It’s and its (e.g., it’s back and its back). We teach contractions after possessives, so some kids do not yet understand why it’s and its are different. The ’s at the end makes these homophones harder to parse than your and you’re and they’re, their, and there because most kids automatically associate an ’s with a possessive or plural.
How to help: Explain that it’s is a contraction (i.e., a smoosh together) of it is. Also, avoid using contractions where possible for now. Your child will soon learn about contractions, too, and we’ll reinforce this difference. The main goal at this tender moment is to ensure that your child can see that there’s a difference between its and it’s. Whoa, they’re not the same word!
Single proper nouns that end in s & plural proper nouns (e.g., Illinois’s and Joneses’). Online writing correction tools err on the side of less punctuation. They recommend omitting commas in simple sentences (though they always call for the Oxford comma). They demand one space after ending punctuation, not two. Similarly, they have a less-is-more approach to punctuating possessives. The older, standard convention is that you add an ’s after a singular proper noun that ends in s (e.g., Illinois’s). But the online tools tend to call for dropping the s (e.g., Illinois’). This variation of rules is confusing for kids, just as plural possessives will always be confusing because you have to think a little bit more than you might otherwise; there’s a lot of information embedded in the word and apostrophe.
How to help: Tell your child that they’re not hallucinating. Their online grammar and punctuation editor may well be recommending something different from what they’re learning in school. It’s confusing. Who knows where things will go in the future? For now, though, we recommend learning the tried and true system. It’s tried and true for a reason.
