Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 4: Use an apostrophe to indicate ownership
• Part 2 of 4: Don't use apostrophes for plurals
• Part 3 of 4: Use an apostrophe in abbreviations
• Part 4 of 4: Handwrite Correctly
• Tips
• Warnings

The apostrophe in English is used for two reasons: to indicate abbreviation and belonging - something belongs to someone. The rules for using the apostrophe are different depending on the type of word. Apostrophes help make text clearer and shorter.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Use an apostrophe to indicate ownership

1. 1 Use an apostrophe after a proper name to indicate belonging. The apostrophe and "s" after a proper name mean that this person, place or thing owns what follows after his name or title. For example, Mary's lemons. We know that lemons belong to Mary thanks to "s". Other examples are China's foreign policy and the orchestra's conductor.
   • Specifying ownership can be tricky, and there are exceptions. For example, the phrase "Sunday's football game" (Sunday football game, literally "Sunday football game") is technically incorrect (since Sunday cannot have anything), but it is absolutely acceptable in writing and colloquial speech. “A hard day’s work” (hard work, literally “work of a hard day”) is also an absolutely correct phrase, despite the fact that the day cannot own anything.
2. 2 Be consistent in using the apostrophe after words ending in "s". When someone's name ends in "s," you can use an apostrophe without a subsequent "s" to indicate affiliation, but linguists in the Chicago Manual of Style, along with many others, prefer to put an "s" after the apostrophe.
   • Notice the difference in usage:
     
     • Acceptable: Jones' house (house of Jones); Francis' window Enders' family (Enders family).
     • Preferably: Jones's house (house of Jones); Francis's window Enders's family (Enders family).
   • Whichever style you prefer to use, stick to it. It doesn't matter which option you choose, it is important that you stick with it.
3. 3 Do not use an apostrophe to indicate belonging with the pronoun "it". "China's foreign policy" is correct, but let's say the reader already knows that you are talking about China and you replace the country's name with a pronoun. If you plan to indicate that something belongs to China in this way, you need to say "its foreign policy" (its foreign policy), but not "it's’s".
   • The reason is to avoid confusion between "its" (him, her), used to indicate belonging, and "it’s", used as an abbreviation for "it is". If you are not sure whether to use an apostrophe or not, try substituting “it is” or “it has” instead of “it’s / its”. If the phrase changes or loses its meaning, the apostrophe is not needed. For example, “it is foreign policy” cannot replace “China’s foreign policy”, so write “its” without an apostrophe.
4. 4 Use an apostrophe to indicate belonging if the noun is plural. One of the common mistakes is using an apostrophe to indicate that something belongs not to one person, but to a family. Let's say the Smart family has a boat. To indicate boat ownership, the apostrophe will be used as “the Smarts’ boat ”, not“ the Smart’s boat ”. Since we are talking about all the members of the Smart family, we put the last name in the plural, "Smarts". And since all Smart (at least presumably) own the boat, we add an apostrophe after the "s".
   • If the last name ends in "s", put it in the plural before adding the apostrophe. For example, if you wanted to discuss a Williams family, the plural would be “the Williamses”. If you wanted to point to their dog, you would say “the Williamses’ dog ”. If this sounds a bit tricky to you — especially with a more complex last name — you can say “the Williams family” and “the Williams family’s dog”.
   • If you are listing all the owners of a particular object, know where to put the apostrophe. For example, if both John and Mary own a cat, you should write it as “John and Mary’s cat”, not “John’s and Mary’s cat”. "John and Mary" in this case is a collective noun, and therefore only one apostrophe is needed.

Part 2 of 4: Don't use apostrophes for plurals

1. 1 Don't use an apostrophe to form a plural. The erroneous use of an apostrophe to form a plural is called "greengrocer's apostrophe", as sellers of fruits and vegetables most often commit this mistake (or, at least, are seen in it). If you have more than one apple, then write "apples", not "apple's".
   • An exception is the case when you need to put a single letter in the plural. So in the sentence “Why are there so many i’s in the word “indivisibility”? " (Why is there so many i's in the word "indivisibility"?) Everything is spelled correctly. In this case, the apostrophe is used for clarity, otherwise readers will see the word "is" here. However, it is currently preferred not to use an apostrophe in such situations, but instead to enclose the letter in quotation marks and then add an “s” to indicate the plural: “Why are there so many“ i ”s in the word“ indivisibility ”?
   • Use the words “ones” instead of “1’s”, “fours” instead of “4’s” or “nines” instead of “9’s”. However, in words, you should write numbers from one to ten.
2. 2 Know how to use apostrophes correctly with years and acronyms. Let's say you use the acronym for a noun, CD. To pluralize it, use "CDs" rather than "CD's". The same scheme has been applied over the years - in the sentence "Spandex was popular in the 1980s" use "1980s" without an apostrophe.
   • The apostrophe is used with the year only when it replaces omitted digits. For example, if you want to shorten 2005, you can write “’05”. In this case, the apostrophe will denote an abbreviation, similar to how you write “I’m” instead of “I am” (this use of the apostrophe will be discussed in the next section).

Part 3 of 4: Use an apostrophe in abbreviations

1. 1 Using apostrophes in abbreviations. Sometimes, especially in informal writing, apostrophes are used to indicate that one or more letters are being omitted. For example, the word "don't" is an abbreviation for "do not", similarly "isn't" ("is not"), "wouldn't" ("would not"), and "can't" ("cannot "). The verbs "is", "has", and "have" can also be abbreviated. For example, we can write “She’s going to school” instead of “She is going to school”, “He’s lost the game” instead of “He has lost the game” or “They’ve gone away” instead of “They have gone away”.
2. 2 Be careful with "its" and "it’s". Use an apostrophe with the word "it" only when you want to indicate the abbreviation "it is" or "it has". “It” is a pronoun, and pronouns have their own possessive form, which does not require an apostrophe. For example: “That noise? It’s just the dog eating its bone "(What's that noise? It's a dog gnawing at its own bone). It may sound complicated, but "its" is formed in the same way as other possessive pronouns: his (him), hers (her), its (him / her), yours (your), ours (our), theirs ( them).
3. 3 Don't use abbreviations that don't exist. Many people use informal abbreviations like "shouldn't've". In fact, there are no such abbreviations in English, so you should not use them either. Another mistake to avoid is using abbreviations from "is" or "has" with people's names. For example, if you write "Bob's" instead of "Bob is", it is wrong. "Bob's" is a possessive form for something that belongs to Bob. For pronouns, such a contraction is in the order of things: "he's" ("he is") or "she's" ("she is").

Part 4 of 4: Handwrite Correctly

1. 1 If you write in letters, always attach the letters after the apostrophe to those before it. For example, if you want to write “she’s”, first write “shes” together and then add an apostrophe.

Tips

• When in doubt, always remember that apostrophes are almost always used with nouns to indicate belonging. Avoid using apostrophes for anything else.
• In the case of a name ending in "s", linguists at the Chicago Manual of Style recommend adding an "s" after the apostrophe: for example, "Charles's bike" (Charles's bike). If your instructor requires you to adhere to a particular rule, do so.If there are no requirements, just choose your preferred form, but be consistent and stick to the same form throughout the individual written work (essay, letter, etc.).
• The Elements of Style (by W. Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White) is a handy quick guide to spelling and punctuation. Try to find it on the Internet and use it when you write in English.

Warnings

• When a word ends in "y," like the word "try," be especially careful when changing its shape. “Try” should not be transformed into either “trys” or “try’s”; only "tries" will be the correct form.
• If you use random apostrophes here and there, it demonstrates that you do not know the rules related to the formation of the possessive, abbreviations, and plurals. When in doubt, don't use an apostrophe.
• Don't use apostrophes or quotation marks for emphasis. For example, take a billboard that says "Joe Schmo, the 'best' realtor in town!" (Joe Schmoe, the "best" realtor in town!). The word "best", taken in quotation marks, immediately takes on a sarcastic sound and is perceived in the opposite sense.
• When specifying a return address, the apostrophe after the surname is not placed. For example, a person named Greenwood would indicate "The Greenwoods" rather than "the Greenwood's". "The Greenwoods" indicates the family's place of residence (who? Greenwoods), and the possessive case has nothing to do with it.
• Never write "her's". The word “her’s” doesn’t exist: you don’t write “him’s”. Remember that possessive pronouns do not require an apostrophe: his, hers, its, yours, ours, theirs.