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    The Apostrophe (') : The Apostrophes and Nouns

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    Luis Ovalle
    The apostrophe has three main uses: 1) to show possession with nouns and indefinite pronouns, 2) to show omitted letters in contractions, and 3) to form plurals of letters and numerals. For nouns, an apostrophe + 's' is added to singular nouns to show possession, and an apostrophe alone is used for plural nouns not ending in 's'. Indefinite pronouns take apostrophes to show possession unlike possessive pronouns.

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    The Apostrophe (') : The Apostrophes and Nouns

    Uploaded by

    Luis Ovalle
    23 views2 pages
    The apostrophe has three main uses: 1) to show possession with nouns and indefinite pronouns, 2) to show omitted letters in contractions, and 3) to form plurals of letters and numerals. For nouns, an apostrophe + 's' is added to singular nouns to show possession, and an apostrophe alone is used for plural nouns not ending in 's'. Indefinite pronouns take apostrophes to show possession unlike possessive pronouns.

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    The apostrophe has three main uses: 1) to show possession with nouns and indefinite pronouns, 2) to show omitted letters in contractions, and 3) to form plurals of letters and numerals. For nouns, an apostrophe + 's' is added to singular nouns to show possession, and an apostrophe alone is used for plural nouns not ending in 's'. Indefinite pronouns take apostrophes to show possession unlike possessive pronouns.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    23 views2 pages

    The Apostrophe (') : The Apostrophes and Nouns

    Uploaded by

    Luis Ovalle
    The apostrophe has three main uses: 1) to show possession with nouns and indefinite pronouns, 2) to show omitted letters in contractions, and 3) to form plurals of letters and numerals. For nouns, an apostrophe + 's' is added to singular nouns to show possession, and an apostrophe alone is used for plural nouns not ending in 's'. Indefinite pronouns take apostrophes to show possession unlike possessive pronouns.

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    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

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