When you use an apostrophe before the ‘s’ it is to show singular possession.

You’ve seen it before the ‘s’ a ton of times, but you’ve also seen it after the ‘s’ and times when it isn’t used at all. One of the main areas of confusion when it comes to the apostrophe ‘s’ is where to put the darn thing. Here is a basic explanation with some examples to help you along. The apostrophe ‘s’ rule is one that is easy to get wrong, even when you know where it should go and when. Your punctuation will just be incorrect, which reflects on the overall quality of whatever you are writing. If you forget the apostrophe when you write contractions like you’re, don’t or isn’t, most people will still know what you mean. Not so much in an “understanding the meaning” kind of way, but more of a “proper punctuation” kind of way. Such ambiguous sentences should just be rewritten.When to Put an Apostrophe Before the ‘s’ and When to Put It AfterĪpostrophes play a big role in writing the English language. For instance, a picture of her and Cesar’s house could refer to a photo of 'her' in front of the house that Cesar owns or a photo of the house that she and Cesar co-own. It should be mentioned that compound possessives are often clunky as well as confusing. Avoid possessive pronouns ( mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs) in such constructions. Note: As the above examples demonstrate, when one of the co-owners is written as a pronoun, use possessive adjectives ( my, your, her, our, their). However, if one of the joint owners is written as a pronoun, use the possessive form for both. If two people possess the same item, put the apostrophe + s after the second name only.Įxample: Cesar and Maribel’s home is constructed of redwood. This method explains the punctuation of for goodness’ sake. But most people would pronounce an added s in 'Jones’s,' so we’d write it as we say it: Mr. Hastings’ pen' would not pronounce an added s, we would write Mr. For example, since most people saying 'Mr. Hasting).Ī widely used technique favored for its simplicity is to write the word as we would speak it. Hastings, many people would wrongly write Mr. For instance, if talking about a pen belonging to Mr. However, this idea is routinely ignored by good writers ( the rocket’s red glare).Ĭare must be taken to place the apostrophe outside the word in question. Note: We sometimes hear that an inanimate object cannot possess, e.g., the canvas’s size should be written the size of the canvas. One method, common in newspapers and magazines, is to add an apostrophe + s (’ s) to common nouns ending in s, but only a stand-alone apostrophe to proper nouns ending in s.

And some add an apostrophe + s to every proper noun, be it Hastings’s or Jones’s. Some writers and editors add only an apostrophe to all nouns ending in s.

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