Apostrophes?

[Aero]

Basically I'm 20 years old and in my final year of university and today in a lecture our "new" lecturer stated that as most peoples english grammar is terrible, mine is dire. (I'm doing a Civil engineering degree so pretty much all maths no writing.) He would like to point out the correct use for apostrophes as he is sure that lots of us will have marks deducted for this. Now I'm struggling to understand this as today was the first I have ever been taught the they can go at the end of a word after the letters. If anyone can help me comprehend this it would be a great help,

i.e. In what situation does it go,

contractors
contractor's
contractors'

Cheers

Aero

 

[Aero]

if it is referring to more than one contractor - contractors
if it is something that belongs to a contractor - contractor's

Ok I understand that but the third one is the one that really gets me! I know most of my mates are just going to try and avoid using them at all. lol

Aero

 

[Aero]

Ok I think I get it ok here goes

The contractors are from poland.
They're the contractor's huts. (refering to one contractors set of huts)
They're the contractors' huts. (refering to many different contractors huts

 

[Aero]

I have no idea how a 14 year old cannot understand such basic English, let alone a 20 year old. I'm genuinely interested as to how you cannot know this...?

To be honest I've always struggled with languages, I happen to be a much more maths orientated person. I find it a lot easier to have one definitive answer. I am sorry to have bemused you, however may I suggest that when someone asks for help on a particular subject they are having problems with, be it technical or something of a different nature that you think about your post and possibly think about helping them out instead?

Hope this has answered your question psyr33n.

I would just like to extend my thanks to everyone who posted! Regardless of whether it was right or wrong the effort and help is greatly appreciated.

Aero

 

[Aero]

See whilst it is important to place punctuation etc in the correct places, doing so is really a very low level learning excercise. It doesn't require any high level thinking or creativity to use an apostrophe correctly, it's simply like learning how to use a particular tool or something.

Learning about shakespeare and other classical works as well as doing your own creative writing is incredibly important and forces you to think, learn, understand and criticise.

Whilst I agree on the whole with your statement daz, I also find that JIM_BOB7813 makes a good point as I don't think he is refering to a higher level of thinking, just more of a complex method of use. I was merely struggling to get my head round the different concepts of each use, that was all.

Aero