Apostrophes for Possession, Contractions and Its vs It's

The apostrophe has two jobs: showing possession and marking missing letters in contractions. Almost every apostrophe mistake comes from giving it a third job it doesn't have: making plurals.

Apostrophes for possession

Singular nouns

Add 's to show that something belongs to one person or thing:

• the player's score
• my sister's phone
• the game's rules

Plural nouns ending in s

Add only an apostrophe after the s:

• the players' scores (several players)
• the teachers' lounge
• two weeks' notice

Plural nouns not ending in s

Irregular plurals take 's, just like singular nouns:

• the children's books
• the women's final
• the people's choice

Singular names ending in s

Both James's and James' are accepted. Most modern style guides prefer James's because it matches how people say it (JAY-mziz). Classical and biblical names are often written with the apostrophe only: Achilles' heel, Jesus' teachings. Pick one style and stay consistent.

Joint and separate ownership

• Ana and Tom's house: one house they share.
• Ana's and Tom's phones: each has their own.

Apostrophes in contractions

A contraction squeezes two words together, and the apostrophe sits where letters were removed:

Note would've, not would of: the contraction sounds like "of", but the full form is would have.

Its vs it's

This one trips up everyone. The trick: possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe. You'd never write hi's or her's, so don't write it's for possession either.

• It's raining. (It is raining.)
• It's been a long day. (It has been.)
• The team lost its best player. (The player belonging to it.)

Test it by expanding: if "it is" or "it has" fits, use it's. Otherwise use its. The same logic separates who's (who is) from whose (belonging to whom) and you're from your. There's a full lesson on their, there and they're.

No apostrophe for plurals

These are all wrong: apple's for sale, the 1990's, CD's. Write apples, the 1990s, CDs.

The one widely accepted exception is plurals of single lower-case letters, where the apostrophe prevents confusion: mind your p's and q's, dot your i's.

Practice quiz