Apostrophe flow sheet

Apostrophes and possession

An apostrophe shows ownership or possession of something: “Mitch’s book.”

•    It also shows omitted letters: “What’s going on?” means “What is going on?”

•    They’re = “they are”

•    Let’s = “let us”

•    You’re = “you are”

• •    Use apostrophes for possession:

–    The child’s toy (it belongs to the child)

–    In today’s world (the world today)

–    Mr. Dolan’s car (the car belongs to Mr. D.)

–    Their money’s worth (the money belongs to them)

Do not use apostrophes with possessive pronouns such as “hers” “its” “ours” “theirs” “yours”

Note:  “it’s” means “it is” (or in past tense, “it has”)

Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of names that do not show ownership:

•    “The Cleveland Browns played the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.”

•    However, use it to indicate individual ownership in a group:

–    “Updike’s and Roth’s work was outstanding” (means both of them get a thumbs-up for separate effort)

However: when two or more are joint “owners,” give the 2nd party the apostrophe:

        “Tonya and Miguel’s house.”

•    Singular nouns ending in “S”

**    Optional rule here: use an apostrophe or don’t when a name ends with an “S”—but stay with your choice!

•    Jesus’s disciples (or Jesus’)

•    My boss’s orders (or boss’)

•    Plural nouns (already have it!)

**   The students’ papers (belongs to all the students)

**The horses’ manes (all the horses)

**The schools’ cafeterias (all the schools)

  (Just tag on the apostrophe to show ownership for the “group” as a plural)

Use an apostrophe to show the dropped numbers of a year:

–    “The ’60s were about music and personal freedoms.”

–    The Spirit of ’76 is a plane.

Use an apostrophe to show the plural form of letters in the alphabet

•    “When I eat alphabet soup, I pick out all the M’s first.”

•    An author actually wrote a novel without any e’s in it.