LEO Apostrophes

LEO: Literacy Education Online

Apostrophe Rules

The apostrophe indicates that a number or a letter has been omitted:

it is = it’s

‘65 = 1965

does not = doesn’t

‘90 = 1990
Apostrophes are also used to show possession or ownership. The apostrophe follows the noun that is owning something. Apostrophes can be troublesome when we need to think about singular nouns vs. plural nouns.

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
a child	shoes	a child’s shoes
anyone	idea	anyone’s idea
society	values	society’s values
a person	income	a person’s income
a country	leader	a country’s leader

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Singular Nouns (ending with -s)

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
Chris Jones	dog	Chris Jones’ dog
James	room	James’ room

Plural Nouns (not ending with -s)

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
people	beliefs	people’s beliefs
children	songs	children’s songs
women	rights	women’s rights
men	shoes	men’s shoes

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Plural Nouns (ending with -s)

Owner	Thing Owned	Correct form
two weeks	vacation	two weeks’ vacation
ten dollars	worth	ten dollars’ worth
the Joneses	house	the Joneses’ house
students	addresses	students’ addresses
two singers	performances	two singers’ performances

Additional Notes

The following pronouns are already possessive and do not require apostrophes: yours, ours, its, theirs, his, hers, and whose.

Usually, "of" is used to show possession for non-living things: the walls of the room, the color of your pants. Money and time words are exceptions: one week’s vacation, four dollars’ worth.

Sometimes you may see a short word, like James, written with an s after the apostrophe. This is not incorrect; it is only a variation. We advise that you stick to the commonly used system in this web document.

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The print handout was revised and then redesigned for the Web by Thomas Tate for the Write Place, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota, and may be copied for educational purposes only. If you copy this document, please include our copyright notice and the name of the writer; if you revise it, please add your name to the list of writers.

Last update: 7 June 2000

URL: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/punct/apostrophe.html

it is = it’s	‘65 = 1965
does not = doesn’t	‘90 = 1990