But sometimes the apostrophes will be necessary. Let’s have a look at another.
8 It’s tough to get in to you’re top-choice schools.8.
A) NO CHANGE
B) Its tough to get in to your
C) Its tough to get in to you’re
D) It’s tough to get in to yourHere’s How to Crack It
Check what’s changing in the answer choices. The main changes have to do with apostrophes, particularly
on the words its/it’s and your/you’re.
The first word, its/it’s, needs an apostrophe: It creates the contraction it is. Therefore, because this one
needs an apostrophe, get rid of (B) and (C). As for the other, this word is possessive (as in, the top-
choice schools belonging to you), but remember: Possessive nouns need an apostrophe, but possessive
pronouns don’t. Therefore, because you is a pronoun, this word should be spelled your, as it is in (D).
Phew! These apostrophes can get a little tricky, so let’s try a few more. On these (as on many parts of the
SAT), you’ll find that using your ear and sounding things out doesn’t really help all that much.
Circle the option that works. The big question is, apostrophes or no apostrophes? You can find the
answers on this page.
i. Tinas/Tina’s boss said shes/she’s allowed to take the next few days/day’s off.
ii. If your/you’re not coming to my party, its/it’s really fine with me.
iii. There/they’re are really no good reasons/reason’s for your/you’re bad attitude.
iv. Well/we’ll get back to you as soon as your/you’re application is received.
v. Its/it’s his/his’ guacamole, and he said we cant/can’t have any because its/it’s not ours/our’s.CONCLUSION
In sum, we’ve looked at all the punctuation you’d ever need on the SAT. It’s really not that much, and you
probably knew a lot of it already. In general, checking what’s changing in the answer choices can help
reveal mistakes that you may not have heard, and POE can help you narrow those answers down.
Punctuation rules are easy to learn, as is the biggest rule of all about punctuation.