The Apostrophe
- Melissa Clutter
- Keith Jones
Have you ever received instructions like these?
Nonstandard
Please put a cup of food in the cats bowl.
Without an apostrophe to indicate possession, the phrase “cats bowl” is confusing. Is there only one cat in the house? Or do many cats share the bowl? Without a properly placed apostrophe, this is not standard written English.
Standard
Please put a cup of food in the cat’s bowl.
Notice that the apostrophe is between the t and the s. With that apostrophe, we know that only one cat uses that bowl. Indicating possession is one of the uses of the apostrophe.
The apostrophe performs two functions.
- It indicates a contraction, such as won’t in place of will not.
- It indicates the possessive form of a noun, a noun being any word that you can put a, an, or the in front of or that is capitalized as a proper name. In traditional grammar, we say that it is a “person, place, thing, or idea.”
When the noun “cat” is plural (if there is more than one cat), the writer needs to add only an apostrophe. If many cats share a single bowl, we would be asked to place a cup of food in the cats’ bowl.
Let’s first focus on contractions. When it appears in a pronoun, the apostrophe always indicates a contraction. Pronouns are words that can take the place of a noun in a sentence, such as she, he, I, you, and we, and even who. Compare the italicized words in the following three sentences.
a. Autumn is in a good mood today. (noun plus verb)
b. She is in a good mood today. (pronoun taking the place of the noun "Autumn” plus a verb)
c. She’s in a good mood today. (pronoun and verb contracted)
For more examples of contractions, see the chart below.
| Contractions | |
|---|---|
| Contraction | Expanded Version |
| I’m fine. | I am fine. |
| We’re all fine. | We are all fine. |
| I’ve had worse. | I have had worse. |
| Who’s in charge? | Who is in charge? |
| He's had three cats. | He has had three cats |
If you remember that apostrophes in pronouns are always contractions and never indicate the possessive, you will be able to keep the following words straight:
| Confusing Contractions and Possessives | |
|---|---|
| Word | Definition |
| It’s | Contraction of It is |
| Its | The possessive form of it |
| You're | Contraction of You are |
| Your | The possessive form of you |
| Who's | Contraction of Who is |
| Whose | The possessive form of who |
| They’re | Contraction of They are |
| Their | The possessive form of they |
| There | Location indicator or introductory word, as in there is or there are |
| They’re | Contraction of They are |
| Their | The possessive form of they |
Standard
The mail carrier’s bag
Nouns that are singular (indicating only one) work this way—with the exception of names that end in s, as you’ll see momentarily.
| Apostrophe + s for Singular Nouns |
|---|
| Where is the cat’s bowl? |
| The secret agent’s cover was blown by the silly spy’s nonsense. |
| The curse’s effect was to prevent the team from winning. |
| The lady’s purse is small. |
When the noun you wish to make possessive is plural and ends with an s, add the apostrophe without an additional s.
Standard
The mail carriers’ bags
| Apostrophe After the s for Plural Nouns Ending with s |
|---|
| What are all the cats’ names? |
| Who took these books’ covers? |
| The seven curses’ effects kept the team in last place. |
| The ladies’ purses are all small. |
| The bosses’ cars are always green. |
| I wish that the hosts’ manners were better, but they’re all so rude! |
| All the actresses’ names are hard to remember. |
There are some words that are plural without an s. When the noun you wish to put in the possessive case is plural but does not end in s, add an apostrophe and then the letter s. Common examples of these are the words man, woman, and child, which become men, women, and children in the plural.
Standard
The men’s bags and the man’s bag
| Apostrophe + s for Plural Nouns Not Ending with s |
|---|
| The children’s garden is bigger than she thought. |
| Women’s shoes are in aisle three. |
| The men’s soccer team is playing this weekend. |
| The Red Sox’s pitching has been good this year. |
When a name you wish to make possessive is singular and ends with an s, add the apostrophe but no additional s.
| Only Apostrophe for Names Ending in s |
|---|
| Jesus’ birthday is celebrated on December 25. |
| The commandments were held in Moses’ hands. |
| Kansas’ basketball team didn’t do too well last year. |
| Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds” is a critical success. |
| Professor Jones’ grammar rules make sense. |
When the noun you wish to put in the possessive case is singular and ends in s, treat it as you would any other singular noun: add an apostrophe and then the letter s.
| Apostrophe + s for Other Nouns Ending in s |
|---|
| The boss’s son drove the company car. |
| The moss’s color is green. |
| The hostess’s dress was beautiful. |
| The actress’s performance was not very good. |
| The princess’s mattresses had a pea under them. |
One tricky instance of the use of the apostrophe in a possessive comes in writing about time. A journey that takes two days is a two days’ journey. The journey belongs to those two days; therefore, the possessive form is used.
Apostrophe After s for Plural Time Noun Indicating Possession |
|---|
| It took me two years’ time to write my book. |
| The three months’ delay was due to shipping problems. |
| She watched three years’ worth of films in one month. |
Avoid using apostrophes when making nouns plural. This is not usually troublesome in the case of simple nouns: one dog, two dogs; one chicken, two chickens. When nouns are numbers or abbreviations, things get a bit trickier, but simply treat them as you would any other noun, adding an s without any apostrophe to make them plural.
Standard
The St. Louis Cardinals dominated baseball in the 1940s.
Her tweets are so funny that I can’t count the LOLs she earns, not to mention the RTs she gets.
Note that apostrophes may still be used in the possessive forms of nouns that are numbers or abbreviations though they are not used in the plural forms of numbers or abbreviations. Thus, you might say the following:
Standard
Although 1940’s Jack Benny differed from 1953’s, his radio program with roughly the same cast was broadcast throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
The possessive is formed in the same way whether you’re talking about 1953’s Jack Benny or Jack Benny’s violin or the violin’s case; the plural is formed in the same way whether you’re talking about the 1950s or the violins or the cases of the violins.
| Apostrophe with Numbers and Abbreviations | |
|---|---|
| Plural Nouns, No Possession | Possession |
Baseball reached its heyday in the 1920s. | I have a book about 1920s’ baseball. [all the years in the 1920s, so s plus apostrophe.] |
| He just downloaded four of my latest MP3s. | The MP3’s corruption was frustrating. [one MP3, so apostrophe plus s] |
| They are available at any one of a number of URLs. | The URL’s spelling was incorrect. [one URL, so apostrophe plus s] |
| Get some cash from two or three ATMs. | Both ATMs’ credit card readers were defective. [multiple ATMs, so s plus apostrophe] |
| In my day, we listened to LPs unceasingly. | The LP’s scratch was obvious. [one LP, so apostrophe plus s] |
There is one exception to this rule: an apostrophe may be used to indicate a plural in the case of lowercase letters. In such cases, the lowercase letters would usually be italicized as well.
Standard
She has three n’s in her name.
The mountain looked like a series of m’s with a lake of ink in front of them.