English Grammar & Punctuationusually ages 6–7

Apostrophes: Contraction and Possession

Use apostrophes in writing for both contraction (marking omitted letters) and singular possession, distinguishing the two uses

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Use apostrophes correctly in both 'don't' and 'Sam's bag' within the same piece of writing
Explain the difference between apostrophe for contraction and apostrophe for possession
Correct misplaced or missing apostrophes in a set of sentences

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Try this together

When your child writes a word like "don't" or "it's", do they put the apostrophe in the right place — and can they also write something like "the dog's bowl" to show the bowl belongs to the dog?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Apostrophes for possessionages 6–8Must understand possessive apostrophe to use it in writing

Spelling Contracted Formsages 6–7Must understand contractions before using apostrophes in writing

Starting and Ending Sentencesages 5–8Basic punctuation knowledge supports apostrophe use

Apostrophes: Contraction and Possessionthis skill · ages 6–7

Unlocks

Plural vs Possessive in Nounsages 8–9Distinguishing plural -s from possessive 's requires prior knowledge of how apostrophes mark possession

Grammar Terms: Nouns, Verbs and Tenseages 6–7Must understand apostrophes to use the term

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 1 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E3LA11high confidenceYear 3 · Language

understand that apostrophes signal missing letters in contractions, and apostrophes are used to show singular and plural possession

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E3LA12high confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Language strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Commas in listsages 6–11 Determiners and articlesages 6–7 Expanded noun phrasesages 6–7 Four Types of Sentencesages 6–7

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