Updated September 1, 2026
The Only 2 SAT Apostrophe Rules You Need to Know
Bonus Material: Score-Boosting SAT Grammar Rules (Free Guide)
On the SAT, you can sum up everything you need to know about apostrophes in just two rules.
In this post, we’ll go through the two essential apostrophe rules you need to know, plus walk you through a guided example of how to use them.
These are just two of the grammar rules you’ll need to do well on SAT Reading & Writing, but they’re an important start. First, grab a free copy of our reference guide to the essential SAT grammar rules below, so you’ll be confident tackling any grammar question that comes your way.
Then read on to find out everything you need to know about apostrophe questions.
Jump to section:
The 2 SAT Apostrophe Rules
4-Step Strategy for SAT Apostrophe Questions
Apostrophe Rule #1: Use an apostrophe with or without s to show possession
Apostrophe Rule #2: Use an apostrophe to replace the missing letters in a contraction
SAT Apostrophe Traps to Avoid
Guided example (with a real practice question)
Next Steps
The 2 SAT Apostrophe Rules
All the apostrophe questions on the SAT come down to these 2 rules:
- Rule #1: Use an apostrophe plus s to show possession. For plurals that end in s, just use an apostrophe.
- Rule #2: Use an apostrophe to replace the missing letters in a contraction.
That’s it!
Below, we’ll break down exactly what these rules look like in practice and how they’re tested on the SAT.
First, though, let’s look at the strategy you’ll need up your sleeve when you see an apostrophe question.
4-Step Strategy for SAT Apostrophe Questions
When you run into an apostrophes question on the SAT, follow these strategic steps:
1. Read the full context.
2. Determine whether you’re dealing with a case of contraction or possession.
3. If you’re dealing with possession, identify who/what is owning what and apply the apostrophe rules.
4. If you’re dealing with contraction, use the process of elimination, plug your final choice back into the sentence, and check your answer by expanding the contraction.
If you feel ready to try out this strategy, have a go at this official SAT practice question:
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?
A. poems putatively written by the novel’s
B. poem’s putatively written by the novel’s
C. poem’s putatively written by the novels’
D. poems putatively written by the novels’Source: SAT Educator Question Bank
Jump to the guided example below to see how you did!
If this question tripped you up, don’t worry. We’re about to go through the essential apostrophe rules and how to use them.
To keep all your essential SAT grammar rules at hand, including apostrophe rules, grab our free, one-page summary of what you need to know for grammar questions.
Apostrophe Rule #1: Use an apostrophe with or without s to show possession
To show possession (ownership), you’ll always need an apostrophe. The only question is whether you also need an extra s.
To answer that, follow this one simple rule:
Use an apostrophe plus s to show possession. For plurals that end in s, just use an apostrophe.
In other words:
You need to add an apostrophe plus s (‘s) if:
- The noun is singular (even if it already ends in s!).
- The noun is plural, but its plural form does not end in s.
You only add the apostrophe, with no s, if:
- The noun is plural and ends in s.
Let’s break that down.
| Apostrophe + s | Apostrophe with no s | |
| Singular noun not ending in s | Ellie’s flute My teacher’s methods | |
| Singular noun ending in s | Chris’s book The pass’s expiration date | |
| Plural/collective noun not ending in s | The children’s schedule People’s opinions | |
| Plural/collective noun ending in s | Schools’ curriculum Dairy cows’ living conditions |
This is a lot of information, so let’s look at the more confusing cases in more detail.
For singular nouns that end in “s,” including proper nouns like “Chris,” you still follow the rule of adding an ‘s to these nouns. Here’s what that would look like:
● Chris’s classes
● The iris’s stamens
● The sea bass’s flavor
● James’s preferences
● Nicholas’s parents
Yes, it can feel awkward, but that’s the rule!
What about plural nouns? If you’re showing ownership with a plural noun that ends in “s,” all you need to do is add an apostrophe to the end of that noun. Here are some examples of plural noun possession:
● The books’ covers
● The sidewalks’ cracks
● My teachers’ curriculum
● The mountains’ peaks
● The computers’ hardware
Besides the fact that these plural nouns end in “s,” you can tell that they’re plural because, well, there’s more than one of each. From the examples, we know that we’re talking about more than one book, sidewalk, teacher, mountain, and computer.
However, you can also have a plural noun that doesn’t end in “s”! What happens if you want to show possession with one of these nouns? All you need to do is treat it like a singular noun: add an ‘s to the end.
● The children’s games
● People’s voting habits
● Women’s rights
● Sheep’s wool
● The phenomena’s relevance
Finally, you only use an apostrophe if the possession comes after the owner in the sentence. In English, this is almost always the case, but you might sometimes see formal or old-fashioned language where the possession comes before the owner. In those cases, you don’t need an apostrophe.
The book of names (not the book of names’)
The Knights of the Round Table (not the Knights of the Round Table’s)
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Apostrophe Rule #2: Use an apostrophe to replace missing letters in a contraction
Besides possession, the other situation where you’ll see apostrophes is in contractions.
Use an apostrophe to replace the missing letters in a contraction – and always expand the contraction to check your work.
In these cases, the apostrophe goes in the place of the missing letter(s). To get back to the original phrase, fill in the letters that the apostrophe is replacing.
- Isn’t → is not
- Shouldn’t’ve → should not have
The problem? Some contractions sound an awful lot like other words. Take they’re, which is a contraction if they are. It sounds pretty much exactly like their and there, which are two totally different words.
This is where it’s helpful to remember that contractions can always be expanded back into two or more words. When you’re dealing with potential contractions, always double-check your work by expanding the contraction. If a word cannot be expanded, then it’s not a contraction and it should not have an apostrophe in it (unless it’s a possessive).
SAT Apostrophe Traps to Avoid
It’s easy to confuse some similar-sounding contractions and possessives with each other, which can cost you valuable points on the SAT.
That’s why it’s important to be prepared by knowing the commonly confused possessives and contractions.
Here are some of the most commonly confused contractions to watch out for.
- “You’re” means “you are.” “Your” is possessive.
- “It’s” means “it is.” “Its” is possessive.
- “They’re” means “they are.” “Their” is possessive, and “there” indicates place.
- “Who’s” means “who is.” “Whose” is possessive.
Need a reminder while you’re studying? Save this SAT grammar cheat sheet to glance at while you do practice questions. Then, once you move on to full practice tests, you’ll be ready to go without it!
Guided Example
Time to go back to the official apostrophe practice question we saw earlier. Let’s apply the four-step strategy, plus knowledge of the two apostrophe rules.
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?
A. poems putatively written by the novel’s
B. poem’s putatively written by the novel’s
C. poem’s putatively written by the novels’
D. poems putatively written by the novels’Source: SAT Educator Question Bank
1. Read the full context.
Looking at the answer choices, we can see that we have two variables here. One is that we’ll need to choose between poems and poem’s. The other choice is between novel’s and novels’. (Notice that if you don’t know what the word putatively means, that’s fine! You don’t need to know that in order to answer the question, although you can probably guess from the context that it means the poems are presented as if they were written by the main character of the book).
2. Determine whether you’re dealing with a case of contraction or possession.
Can any of the options be expanded as contractions? Try expanding “novel’s” to “novel is” and “poem’s” to “poem is.”
This turns the passage into gibberish, so we can safely say we’re dealing with a possession question here, not a contraction issue.
3. If you’re dealing with possession, identify who/what is owning what and apply the apostrophe rules.
For both poem and novel, we need to determine whether the word should be 1) singular or plural and 2) possessive or not. Then we can match that to what we know about how to form plural and possessive nouns.
Poems means more than one poem. Poem’s means that something belongs to a single poem. Here, we know from context that the novel is made up of poems. Does anything belong to a poem? No, so we want the form poems. We can cross off choices B and C.
Novel’s and novels’ are both possessive forms. Novel’s means that something belongs to one novel. Novels’ means that something belongs to more than one novel. (The thing that “belongs” to the novel(s) here is the “protagonist,” or main character.) From context, we can tell that there is only one novel, so we can cross off choice D (and C, which was already eliminated). We’re left with answer choice A as the correct answer.
Next Steps
Hopefully, you’re now feeling confident about tackling any SAT apostrophe question!
If you feel like extra support would be helpful, though, working with a live instructor can make a big difference.
All our SAT tutors are trained specifically on the SAT, and students from our one-on-one tutoring program and SAT MasterClass often see their scores increase by as much as 100-300 points over a few months of teaching.
Learn more about our programs here, and get in touch with our team for a free consultation on the best options for you.
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Ro
Rosamond graduated summa cum laude from Princeton. During college, she worked as a peer tutor for Italian, French, Greek, and academic writing. Since graduation, she’s continued to tutor students of all ages in French, Italian, Latin, English, and math, some of them for several years. She’s currently a graduate student studying the relationship between religion and secular law, and she works as a freelance journalist and translator.