How do you decide between a plural, a singular possessive and a plural possessive, and place the apostrophe correctly?
Plural and possessive nouns: distinguishing a plain plural from a singular possessive and a plural possessive, placing the apostrophe correctly, and handling its versus it's, on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT apostrophe skill: telling a plain plural from a singular possessive and a plural possessive, placing the apostrophe before or after the s, and distinguishing its from it's and their from they're.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this skill is asking
An apostrophe question tests whether a noun should be a plain plural (no apostrophe), a singular possessive (apostrophe + s), or a plural possessive (s + apostrophe), and whether possessive pronouns like its are written correctly. On the Digital SAT, the College Board (Standard English Conventions domain, form, structure and sense) offers the same word in several apostrophe forms and asks which fits. The skill is to decide whether the noun shows possession and, if so, whether the possessor is singular or plural, then place the apostrophe.
Three forms, one decision tree
Every apostrophe question reduces to two questions: is there possession, and is the owner singular or plural?
The quickest check is to turn the phrase into an "of" phrase: "the birds' nests" means "the nests of the birds," confirming the birds own the nests and the owner is plural. If no "of" relationship works, there is no possession and you use the plain plural.
A worked apostrophe
Pronoun possessives have no apostrophe
A separate but related rule: possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe. Its, their, your, whose, and ours are already possessive. The apostrophe versions, it's, they're, you're, and who's, are contractions meaning "it is," "they are," "you are," and "who is." This is one of the most frequently tested points because it is so easy to slip on. The test: expand the contraction. If "it is" fits, write "it's"; if not, write "its." A second habit guards the noun forms: when a choice offers a word with an apostrophe, ask aloud whether anything is owned, because the apostrophe in a noun signals possession (or a contraction), never a plain plural; "the 1990s," "the CEOs," and "two dogs" all take no apostrophe because nothing is owned, while "the dog's bowl" and "the dogs' park" do. Running this owned-or-not check before placing any apostrophe prevents the most common error, the apostrophe wrongly added to a simple plural. This rule pairs with pronoun agreement and clarity, where the same its/it's and their/they're distinctions appear.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Digital SAT R&W (style)1 marksWhich choice is correct? 'The ____ nests were hidden high in the trees, safe from predators.' (referring to several birds) (A) birds (B) bird's (C) birds' (D) birds'sShow worked answer →
The correct answer is (C), birds'.
The nests belong to several birds, so this is a plural possessive. A plural noun that already ends in s takes an apostrophe after the s: "the birds' nests." Choice (A) "birds" is a plain plural (no possession shown); (B) "bird's" is singular possessive (one bird); (D) "birds's" is not standard. For a plural ending in s, the apostrophe goes after the s.
Digital SAT R&W (style)1 marksWhich choice is correct? 'The committee published ____ findings after a year of work.' (A) it's (B) its (C) its' (D) theirShow worked answer →
The correct answer is (B), its.
"Its" is the possessive form, meaning belonging to it: "the committee published its findings." Choice (A) "it's" means "it is," which does not fit; (C) "its'" is not a word; (D) "their" is plural and disagrees with the singular collective noun "committee," which takes the singular possessive "its." The possessive "its" never takes an apostrophe.
Related dot points
- Subject-verb agreement: finding the true subject, ignoring intervening phrases, and matching a singular or plural verb, including with collective nouns and inverted sentences, on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT subject-verb agreement skill: identifying the true subject past intervening phrases, handling collective nouns and 'each/every,' and matching the verb's number, with inverted and there-is sentences.
- Pronoun agreement and clarity: matching a pronoun to its antecedent in number, choosing the right case, and avoiding ambiguous or missing references on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT pronoun skill: matching a pronoun to its antecedent in number, using the correct case, and keeping references unambiguous, including singular antecedents like 'each' and the its/it's and who/whom distinctions.
- Verb tense and form: keeping tense consistent with the passage's time frame, using the perfect tenses for sequence, and distinguishing finite verbs from participles on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT verb tense and form skill: matching tense to the time markers in the passage, using past perfect for an earlier past event, and choosing a finite verb rather than a participle when the sentence needs one.
- Parallel structure and comparisons: matching the grammatical form of items in a list or with correlative conjunctions, and ensuring a comparison compares logically comparable things, on Digital SAT form questions.
A focused answer to the Digital SAT parallelism skill: making list items and correlative pairs share the same grammatical form, and making comparisons logical by comparing like with like, with worked short-passage practice.
Sources & how we know this
- Reading and Writing: Content Domains and Skills — College Board (2024)
- Digital SAT Sample Questions — College Board (2024)