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Can We Help?: From possessive apostrophes to discombobulation!

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Presenters sit on set, text overlay reads "'Discombobulate', did Brad Pitt make this word up or is it a real word'?"
Can We Help?: From possessive apostrophes to discombobulation!

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  5–6


People often worry about the use of apostrophes.

See how Professor Kate Burridge answers a question about how to use the apostrophes after certain names, telling us how the rule has changed over time.

She also explains the origins of the word 'discombobulate' and why the plural of house is not 'hice'.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Do you ever get corrected for the way that you use apostrophes? What is a possessive apostrophe? Do you know how to use an apostrophe when showing that someone owns something if their name ends in 's'?
  2. 2.What was the traditional rule for using an apostrophe to make a possessive plural of a name ending in 's'? How has the rule changed? What three kinds of names does Professor Burridge note as exceptions to the new rule? Which country does the word 'discombobulate' come from? What does it mean? What reason does Kate give for why the plural of 'house' is not 'hice'?
  3. 3.From what Professor Burridge says, do you think she feels that it would still be correct to use the traditional rule? Why or why not? What is her explanation for how the word 'discombobulate' came into existence? The word 'house' was once a 'zero plural'. Describe in your own words what this means.
  4. 4.Write a list of ten names ending in 's' as well as the names of ten objects, eg 'ball'. Allocate an object to each of the names and write the name and the object so that you show that it belongs to them, for example 'Charles' and 'ball' would become 'Charles's ball'. Make sure that you use the apostrophe correctly. Now test your friends and family.


Date of broadcast: 6 Jun 2008


Copyright

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