Apostrophes possessives

Possessive plural nouns already ending in 5 need only the apostrophe added ... 

Possessive pronouns never have apostrophes, even though some may end in s ... 

Unlike most possessives, its does not contain an apostrophe. The word it s is instead a contraction of the words it is. The second i is removed, and replaced by an apostrophe. 

When revising your writing, say the words it is when you come across it s or its. If they make sense, you should be using the contraction. If they don t, you need the possessive form, its, without an apostrophe. 

Hint Unlike most possessives, it doesn t have an apostrophe. ... 

CEO s needs an apostrophe to show possession, accounts does not need an apostrophe (it is merely plural), and companies is not plural but singular, and also needs an apostrophe to show possession. The only choice that corrects all three errors is e. 

Form the possessive of a joint owner by adding an apostrophe and an s after the last name only. 

Form the possessive of plural nouns that do not end in s by adding an apostrophe and an s . Form the possessive of plural nouns that end in s by adding an apostrophe only. 

Wouldn t the insurance company believe your story 2. Add an apostrophe plus s to a noun to show possession. 

Add only an apostrophe to a plural noun ending in s to show possession. 

The apostrophe is one of the most commonly misused punctuation marks, but there are only two uses for apostrophes— to show possession and to make a contraction. Never ever use an apostrophe to make a word plural. About contractions. . . ... 

The possessive case always calls for an apostrophe. Most often, you will show possession by adding an apostrophe and an -5 to the end of a word. There are exceptions, of course, so follow these rules to use apostrophes correctly to signify possession. 

In contrast, its (without an apostrophe) denotes ownership or possession. 

What can seem confusing is the fact that with other words ending in s we often use an apostrophe to indicate possession (bird s nest). The apostrophe in this case is being used instead of saying the nest of the bird it is a kind of shorthand. The apostrophe placed before the final s is the singular possessive form (bird s nest) and the apostrophe placed after the s is the plural possessive form (birds nests). 

An apostrophe before or after the letter s at the end of a word is used to indicate possession (and also when words are merged). At other times, the apostrophe should be avoided. Hence the phrase, The facility was modified in the 1980s is correct the phrase, The facility was modified in the 1980 s is incorrect. 

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