How to Use Apostrophes
by Jill Mackey
A. Use an Apostrophe to Indicate Possession
Possession occurs when a noun shows a possessor and a noun shows the thing or person possessed.
| Possessor | Thing or person possessed | Possession |
| woman | son | the woman’s son |
| Juanita | shovel | Juanita’s shovel |
| child | bright smile | child’s bright smile |
You can tell that possession is going on if you can indicate it using the preposition of:
- the son of the woman
- the shovel of Juanita
- the bright smile of the child
Is it apostrophe “s” or “s” apostrophe? It depends:
To make a singular noun possessive, add an apostrophe plus an “s”:
| singular noun | apostrophe | “s” | sample usage |
| baby | ‘ | baby’s | the baby’s bottle |
| dog | ‘ | dog’s | the dog’s bone |
| horse | ‘ | horse’s | the horse’s stall |
To make a plural noun possessive, add only an apostrophe to form the possessive:
| plural noun | apostrophe | sample usage |
| babies | babies’ | the babies’ bottles |
| dogs | dogs’ | the dogs’ bones |
| horses | horses’ | the horses’ stalls |
To make a collective noun possessive, add an apostrophe plus “s” to form the possessive:
| collective noun | apostrophe | “s” | sample usage |
| men | ‘ | men’s | the men’s room |
| women | ‘ | women’s | the women’s books |
| children | ‘ | children’s | the children’s toys |
To make most indefinite pronouns possessive, add an apostrophe plus an “s”:
| indefinite pronoun | apostrophe | “s” |
| anyone | ‘ | anyone’s |
| everything | ‘ | everything’s |
| no one | ‘ | no one’s |
B. Watch Out for Common Misuses of the Apostrophe
Never use an apostrophe to form a plural noun:
WRONG: The teacher’s asked the girl’s and boy’s for their attention.
RIGHT: The teachers asked the girls and boys for their attention.
Never use an apostrophe with “s” to form the present tense of a verb used with a third-person singular subject (he, she, it, or a singular noun):
WRONG: A professional singer need’s to practice different vocal techniques.
RIGHT: A professional singer needs to practice different vocal techniques.
Never use an apostrophe with the possessive pronouns:
WRONG: That cat of our’s is always sleeping.
RIGHT: That cat of ours is always sleeping.
WRONG: The dog buried it’s bone.
RIGHT: The dog buried its bone.
C. Use an apostrophe to form contractions
A contraction is a shortened word or group of words when some letters or sounds are omitted. In a contraction, the apostrophe serves as a substitute for the omitted letters.
| word or group of words | contraction |
| we have | we’ve |
| you are | you’re |
| there is | there’s |
| who is / who has | who’s |
In informal writing, apostrophes can also substitute for omitted numbers in a decade:
The nineties can be written the ‘90s. When writing formal papers, however, it is better to spell out the words.
