Apostrophe (possession)
The use of the punctuation mark the apostrophe (') to show possession is quite easy – if you know the rule. Unfortunately, too many writers have not learnt the rule. Many students are intimidated by what seems complicated - but can be mastered by most intelligent adults within minutes. It may take concentration. (The apostrophe can also show that you have left a letter out of a word, which can cause confusion.)
When we write about someone (the possessor) possessing (or owning) something, then this is shown by an apostrophe. The rule is:
- PUT THE APOSTROPHE AFTER THE POSSESSOR
- (AND ADD AN ‘S’ IF THE SOUND REQUIRES IT).
So:
- One boy's books = the book of one boy.
- Two boys' books = the books of more than one boy.
- A woman’s rights is the rights of an individual woman; Women’s rights is the rights of (all) women.
- Dogs’ behaviour is how dogs (in general) behave; A dog’s behaviour is how one (particular) dog behaves
- The USA’s voting record is the history of how the USA voted, that is "The States’s record" OR "the States’ record": it depends on how you pronounce it.
- Similarly, "James’s bike" is correct fot those who pronounce 'James' with two syllables when he owns something ('jamez-iz'); and "James’ bike" is correct fot those who pronounce it with one syllable: 'jamez'.
One exception to this rule is when the possessive is formed with the pronoun "it". To distinguish from the contaction of "it is", the possessive is "its", without an apostrophe: its = of it .
So:
- Leave the dog to chew its bone
- It's chewing a bone
WARNING: plural nouns which are not possessors never need apostrophes – even if they are abbreviations, like "GPs", or dates, like the "1960s". An exception to this exception is the case where the sense would be unclear: "There are three e's in 'excellent'".
You may need to see apostrophe (omission) to explain another problem with apostrophes.
