APOSTROPHE USAGE TIPSHEET FORMING POSSESSIVES TYPE OF WORD RULE

Apostrophe Usage Tipsheet

Forming Possessives
Type of Word	Rule	Example
Words that do not end in “s”	Add an apostrophe and an “s”	Jack’s shovel, Joe’s costly sneakers, Frankenstein’s monster
Words that end in “s”	Add an apostrophe	girls’ wardrobes, senators’ quarrels
Names ending in “s”	Add both an apostrophe and an “s”	Yeats’s poem, Oedipus’s blindness
Pseudo-possessives	Add an apostrophe	a hard day’s labor, two weeks’ salary
Joint possession	Joint ownership-add an apostrophe to the last name listed	Jack and Jill’s condo
Joint possession	Separate ownership-add an apostrophe after each name	Jack’s and Jill’s clothes
Indefinite pronouns	Treated as words that do not end in “s”	somebody’s grammar, anybody’s game
Abstractions	Usually not possessives unless inanimate objects are personified	at death’s door, the ocean’s wildness

Indicating omission of letters and numbers
Type of Word	Rule	Example
Contractions	Apostrophes are used to signify omissions	it’s, isn’t, haven’t, weren’t, couldn’t
Omitted letters	They mark omissions usually used to show dialect	rock ’n’ roll, you tell ’em, He said he liked fishin’ and huntin’, but today it was rainin’
Omitted numbers	They mark omitted numbers in dates	Spirit of ’76, depression of the ’30s

Other Uses
Type of Word	Rule	Example
Words that are plural in form but mean the singular	The general rule is correct, but they do not read well. Reword so no appostrophe is needed	“the pitfall of politics”, “the difficulties of mathamatics” NOT “politics’ pitfalls”, “mathematics difficulties”
Double Possessives	of and’s both indicate possession. “of” alone can be ambiguous:	“a portrait of Picasso’s.” NOT “A portrait of Picasso”—a portrait of Picasso or by him?
Single Letter Plurals	Use apostrophes to show the plurals of single letters.	Dot your i’s, cross your t’s, learn the three R’s
Buffers	Apostrophes act as buffers between words ending in s or s sounds followed by a word that starts with s	for goodness’ sake
Descriptive Phrases	the apostrophe is skipped if “for” or “by” would work better than “of” in a long version of the phrase; however some institutions use an appostrophe, here follow their lead	college for teachers, manual for writers, National Governor’s Association

Common mistakes with apostrophe usage:

Confusing its and it’s.
- Error: It’s a puppy, but I do not know it’s name.
- Correct: It’s a puppy, but I do not know its name.
- Explanation: Its is a possessive and it’s is a contraction for “it is.”
- Editing tip: Check each its. If it does not show possession, add an apostrophe before the –s. Check each it’s. Does it mean “it is” or “it has”? If not, remove the apostrophe.

Putting apostrophes on possessive pronouns such as mine, yours, your, hers, etc.
- Error: The puppy is your’s.
- Correct: The puppy is yours.
- Explanation: Since it is already a possessive pronoun, you do not need to use an apostrophe. One is the only pronoun with which an apostrophe can be used.
- Editing tip: Check each possessive pronoun. If there is an apostrophe used, remove the apostrophe.

Putting apostrophes after a decade.
- Error: The 1960’s were tumultuous times.
- Correct: The 1960s were tumultuous times.
- Explanation: Do not use the apostrophe unless it indicates a possession. Generally, decades are written without an apostrophe. Use an apostrophe only if the year is contracted. Example: The ’60s were tumultuous times.
- Editing tip: Look at each number and see if there is an apostrophe after it. If there is, remove it.

Misplaced apostrophe for compound nouns.
- Error: My brothers’s in law’s clothes. (As in, the clothes belonging to my brothers in law).
- Correct: My brothers in law’s clothes.
- Explanation: Use the apostrophe with the last word in the compound noun.
- Editing tip: Look for compound nouns and make sure that the –’s is after the last noun.

Not putting apostrophes after plural letters.
- Error: Young children sometimes confuse bs and ds.
- Correct: Young children sometimes confuse b’s and d’s.
- Explanation: An apostrophe plus –s is used to form the plural of numbers, letters, and symbols used as words.
- Editing tip: Check to make sure that every plural of numbers, letters, and symbols has an apostrophe after it.

If you need more practice, visit the following link to take an online quiz on apostrophe usage:

This information was modified from:

Cappon, Rene J. The Associated Press: Guide to Punctuation. New York: Basic Books, 2003.

Runciman, Lex. The St. Martin’s Workbook. 5^th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2003.

Lunsford, Andrea, Cheryl Glenn, and Alyssa O’Brien, eds. Instructor’s Notes: The St. Martin’s Workbook. 5^th ed. Boston:

Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2003.

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