Using the Apostrophe
What’s the purpose of the apostrophe?
Apostrophes may indicate possession or mark omitted letters in contractions. Writers often misuse apostrophes when forming plurals and possessives.
The basic rule is quite simple: use the apostrophe to indicate possession, not a plural. Exceptions to the rule may seem confusing: hers has no apostrophe, and it’s is not possessive. Nevertheless, with some attention, you can learn the rules and exceptions.
Marking Possession with Apostrophes
Possession indicates that the noun being modified has some form of ownership or relationship with the noun that follows it.
- Example: Amina’s jacket: the jacket that belongs to Amina
Singular Possessive
The possessive is formed in singular nouns by adding “-’s” to the end of the word, regardless of whether it ends in an “s” or not.
Examples: The Little Pub’s sign; Matías’s basketball
Plural Possessive
The possessive is formed in plural nouns by adding “-’s” to the end of words that do not end in “s” and an apostrophe to the end of words that do end in “s.”
- Examples: The children’s toys; The students’ books
The apostrophe, or the “-’s” ending, never indicates that the word is plural. The word will always be marked as plural before a possessive ending is added.
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns, such as yours, hers, its, and ours, take no apostrophe.
- Example: The decision is yours.
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns, such as anyone, everybody, no one, and somebody, refer to nonspecific persons and use the singular possessive form.
- Example: Somebody’s dog was in our classroom yesterday.
Using Apostrophes in Contractions
Contractions appear frequently in speech, but in writing they require modifications to spelling to mimic their pronunciation. Consonant sounds are often omitted to make it easier to pronounce a contraction as one word; they are replaced in writing with an apostrophe to mark the missing letter. Contractions are sometimes considered too informal to use in academic writing, and you may want to write out the words forming the contraction separately instead.
- Examples: do not = don’t; can not = can’t; should not = shouldn’t; will not = won’t
It’s vs. Its: It’s tricky!
It’s
This is the contraction of “it is” or “it has” and is never used to mark the possessive.
Its
This is the possessive of “it” and, unlike other possessives, does not use an apostrophe.
- Example: I got a new car, but it’s hard to tell whether its paint is blue or green.
By Laura Widman, Writing Center Assistant Director
Find Your Voice
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