How to Use Apostrophe (Apostrophe) in English

In English, the apostrophe (apostrophe) is used for two purposes: to indicate ownership and to shorten certain letters. The rules for using apostrophes vary depending on the word type. Apostrophes keep your writing clear and concise.

Table of Contents

Description Possession of manner

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Use an apostrophe to indicate the possession of proper nouns. The apostrophe “s” after a proper noun indicates that the person, place, or thing possesses the thing after its name. For example, “Mary’s lemons”. We know the lemons belong to Mary because there ‘s behind them. Other examples include “China’s foreign ppicy” and “the orchestra’s conductor”.

Possessing the manner of some proper nouns requires subtlety. “Sunday’s football game” is not logically correct (because Sunday is not possessive) but it is perfectly acceptable in speech and writing. Likewise, “A hard day’s work” is perfectly acceptable even though the day is not likely to be possessed.

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Be consistent in your use of apostrophes after words ending in “s .” When someone’s name ends in “s”, you can use the apostrophe without the “s” to indicate possession. However, Chicago Writing School linguists, among others, suggest that an “s” should be added after the apostrophe. ^{[1] X Research Source}^{[2] X Research Source}

Note the difference in usage:
- Acceptable : Jones’ house (Jones’ house); Francis’ window (Francis’ window); Enders’ family (enders’ family).
- Recommended : Jones’s house; Francis’s window; Enders’ family.
Regardless of the style you use, be consistent with it. It doesn’t matter which spelling you apply as long as you use it consistently throughout the article.

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Do not use an apostrophe to indicate ownership with “it”. “China’s foreign ppicy” is not wrong, but assuming the reader knows you are talking about China, and you consider China to be “it”, you should write “its foreign ppicy” when it comes to ownership in such a way. This.

The reason for this is to avoid confusion between the “its” used for possessiveness and the “it’s” used in the shorthand “it is.” If you’re not sure whether to use an apostrophe, try changing it to “it is” or “it has.” If the sentence doesn’t make sense (such as “it is foreign ppicy” is no substitute for “China’s foreign ppicy”), leave out the apostrophe.

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Use an apostrophe to show the possessiveness of plural nouns. A common mistake when using apostrophes for plural nouns is when it comes to family possessions. For example, the Smarts live opposite your house and they have a boat. The boat is “the Smarts’ boat,” not “the Smart’s boat”. Since you are referring to all members of the Smart family, you must start with “Smarts.” Since the whole Smart family owns the boat, you must add an apostrophe after the “s”.

If the family’s last name ends with “s,” convert it to the plural before adding the apostrophe. For example, if you were referring to the Williams family, the plural would be written as “the Williamses”. If you mean their dog, you say “the Williamses’ dog.” If the family’s last name is difficult or inconvenient to read, simply say “the Williams family” and “the Williams family’s dog”.
If you are listing names of people who jointly own an object, you should know where to put the apostrophe. For example, if John and Mary both own a cat, you would write “John and Mary’s cat” — not “John’s and Mary’s cat”. “John and Mary” is a compound noun phrase, and therefore requires only an apostrophe.

Avoid Apostrophes for Plural Nouns

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In general, do not use the apostrophe to indicate plural. The misuse of apostrophes for plural nouns is called greengrocer’s apostrophe , because grocers are the worst (or at least the most noticeable) mistakes. ^{[3] X Research Source} If you have more than one apple, the correct spelling is “apples'”, not apple’s .

The exception to this usage is writing the plural form of a letter. Therefore, Why are there so many i’s in the word “indivisibility”? (Why is there so much i in the word “indivisibility”? is true, depends on who you ask. ^{[4] X Research Sources} It’s simply for the sake of clarity, so readers don’t get confused. it with the word “is.” In modern languages, however, the apostrophe is avoided and instead encloses the letter in quotation marks before converting it to the plural: Why are there so many ” i”s in the word “indivisibility”?
Avoid problems with small numbers by writing them in words: “ones” for “1’s,” “fours” for “4’s,” or “nines” for “9’s.” Write words only for digits less than or equal to ten.

Using Apostrophes in Short Form

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Use the apostrophe for the shortened form. Especially in colloquial writing, the apostrophe is used to indicate one or more missing letters. For example, the word “don’t” is a shortened form of “do not”; Other examples include “isn’t,” “wouldn’t,” and “can’t.” The shortened form can also be used with the verbs “is,” “has,” and “have.” You can write “She’s going to schop” instead of “She is going to schop”; or “He’s lost the game” instead of “He has lost the game”.

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Beware of confusing its and it’s. Using the apostrophe with the word “it” indicates the shortened form of “it is” or “it has”. It is a pronoun, and pronouns have a proper possessive form without the apostrophe. For example, “That noise? It’s just the dog eating its bone”. It sounds complicated, but it follows the rules of possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, yours, ours, theirs .

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Avoid using abbreviations that don’t exist. Many people use colloquial contractions like “shouldn’t’ve” or “‘ought.” These abbreviations are incorrect, so avoid using them in formal writing. Another mistake to avoid is using people’s names in shortened form. For example, if you use “Bob’s” as a contraction of “Bob is,” it is incorrect. “Bob’s” is said to be possessive, not abbreviated. The use of a shortened pronoun that is still correct, such as “he’s” or “she’s”.

Using Apostrophes in Cursive Writing

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When writing cursive, always associate the letters after the apostrophe with the rest of the word. Example: When writing she’s , you write shes first and then add an apostrophe after.

Advice

If in doubt, always remember that the apostrophe is used mostly in nouns to show the possessive. Avoid using apostrophes in other cases.
For singular names ending in “s”, the Chicago School of Writing places an “s” after the apostrophe, as in “Charles’s bike”. If your assignment requires you to follow a certain writing convention, then you must. As long as that writing convention is consistent throughout the article, you can use either method.
The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is a very useful and concise book on writing and punctuation. You can bring it with you for reference if there is still something you don’t understand.

Warning

When a word ends in “y,” as in “try,” be careful when changing the form of the verb. For example, “try” cannot be written as “try’s”. The correct spelling is ” Tries “.
Like it or not, overwriting the apostrophe shows that the writer doesn’t understand the rules for possessive, contraction, and plural forms. If unsure, choose the safe option of omitting the apostrophe.
Do not use apostrophes or quotation marks for emphasis. For example, take a billboard that says: Joe Schmo, the “best” realtor in town! (take the sign that says: Joe Schmo, the “best” broker in town!) It makes the word “best” sound sarcastic, more untrue than emphatic.
Do not put an apostrophe inside the name on the sender address label. If your last name is “Greenwood,” ” The Greenwoods ” is correct, while ” the Greenwood’s ” is false. “The Greenwoods” indicates that it is a residence of many people with the same surname as Greenwood, not a property form.
Never write “Her’s.” Her’s is not the right word, nor should it be spelled “him’s”. Remember that possessive pronouns don’t need apostrophes: his, hers, its, yours, ours, theirs .

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