The Apostrophe (')

The apostrophe has 3 uses:

1. To show possession or ownership in
a) nouns, e.g. the boy’s book
b) indefinite pronouns, e.g., anybody’s, nobody’s

2. To show that one or more letters have been omitted from a word, e.g., can’t,
won’t, it’s

3. To form the plural of letters and numerals

The Apostrophes and nouns

At the end of a singular noun ’s is added to show possession

Jane’s cat is a fool.
The python’s lunch consisted of one anthropologist.

If the noun already ends in an -s (glass, Santa Claus, Thomas), add an -’s to show
ownership
The glass’s content
Santa Claus’s beard
Thomas’s laughter

Note: If a word already ends in -s and adding another would sound clumsy, the -s can be
left off, but the apostrophe remains.
For Jesus’ sake

If the plural of the noun is formed by adding an -s, the apostrophe alone comes after the
name of the people, places or things that own something:
The boys’ football split open
The Parkes’ party will be at their home
Why can’t the Jones’ yard be as tidy as ours

When plural noun is formed with a spelling change (man/men, person/people,

child/children), the rule for singular possession applies (-’s )
The men’s pool is open today
The women’s hostel

If two or more people own something only the last one has the apostrophe ending:
It has to be Peter and Jane’s lunch
The cat, the dog and beetle’s lunch is on the terrace

When a plural nouns ends in ‘s’, the apostrophe is alone to indicate ownership
The glasses’ contents

1
 Santa Clauses’ beards

In compound words or word groups, only add the ’s to the last word
Father-in-law’s car
Managers and director’s role

When two or more people or things have individual or separate ownership then each noun
has -’s added.
Peter’s and Jane’s houses
Commerce’s and Education’s agendas

When something is available to a group of people, but they do not own it, then is acts as
an adjective and does not have an apostrophe:
Students residences
Teachers Credit Union

The Apostrophes and indefinite pronouns

Possessive pronouns do not have an apostrophe when showing ownership

Write Don’t write

yours (singular and plural) your’s or yours’
hers her’s or hers’
his his’ or his’s
its it’s or its’
ours our’s or ours’
theirs their’s or theirs’

Indefinite pronouns do have apostrophes when indicating ownership. They include

anybody, anyone, everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody, no-one, one,
some and somebody

These behave like singulars, even if the plural reference is obvious:

Two mineral waters and she’s anyone’s
Everybody’s property usually means nobody’s property