Apostrophes ’

Nothing causes punctuation anxiety quite like the humble apostrophe. The problem stems from the fact that we use 2 elements (an apostrophe and the letter ‘s’) to achieve 3 functions (plurals, contraction and possession).

In the case of contractions, the addition of an apostrophe is mostly straightforward. But where both possession and plurality are involved, the system does not work so neatly.  There is nothing for it but to apply a standard set of rules and exceptions.

Contractions
Mark missing letters when you shorten 2 words into 1
do not
don’t
it is
it’s

The first use of an apostrophe is easy enough. When shortening two words into one contraction, add an apostrophe to show where the letters are missing.


Full formContraction

it is, it has

it’s
you areyou’re
they arethey’re
we willwe’ll
should haveshould’ve
could notcouldn’t

But even here there is a common trap, because ‘its' ‘your’ and ‘their’ (without apostrophes) are possessive pronouns and do not take an apostrophe. See below for more on that exception. 

I can’t believe it’s been a month since your last visit.
Its vital your familiar with our contractual obligations.
Possession

Show possession mostly with ’s (singular) or s’ (plural)

the [singular] team’s work hours
the [plural] teams’ work hours

To show possession or ownership, most words will either:

  • add an apostrophe and then the letter ‘s’ (for singular words)
  • add an apostrophe after the ‘s’ (for plural words).

The 2 areas that can create uncertainty are:

  • singular nouns that already end in ‘s’
  • irregular words that form a plural without an ‘s’.

Singular nouns

Let’s take the singular forms first:

Singular possessiveMeaning
a graduate’s gowngown of a graduate
Neil James’s bookbook of Neil James
the report’s recommendationsrecommendations of the report

Note that even when the singular noun ends in ‘s’ (usually a name), you can simply add an apostrophe and ’s’ at the end to be consistent with the general rule. Too many style guides have gotten tangled up in exceptions where they recommend not adding an ‘s’ if it involves a major historical figure (the Jesus’ rule) or it sounds awkward (the Menzies’ rule). The ASG recommends keeping it simple and consistent: hence ‘James’s book’.

Plural nouns

When a noun has 2 or more owners, you usually add an apostrophe after the final ‘s’:

Regular plural possessiveMeaning
the directors’ decisiondecision of the directors
the agencies’ progressprogress of the agencies

But watch out for irregular plurals that don’t end in ‘s’. These follow the singular possessive approach:

SingularIrregular pluralIrregular plural possessiveMeaning
countrycountries

the 6 countries’ flags

the flags of 6 countries
childchildrenthe children’s playgroundplayground of the children

Shortened forms

Follow the same rules for acronyms and initialisms. But remember that sometimes the shortened form serves as an adjective, not a possessive, and does not take an apostrophe or ‘s’.

AA Managing Director Derek White outlined the EIS’s recommendations.

CNNs coverage of the US’ election was extensive.

Perhaps the biggest apostrophe brain teaser occurs in government organisations whose title ends in a plural noun that itself ends in ‘s’. How do you indicate possession in both the full title and the acronym?


Regular Possessive
Full titleDepartment of Family
and Community Services

The Department of Family 
and Community Services’ policy

Shortened formFACS

FACS’s policy

Possessive pronouns
Don’t use apostrophes
hers
its

While we mostly use apostrophes to show possession, doing so for possessive

pronouns would give us the same form as we use for a contraction. Possessive pronouns such as ‘theirs’, ‘his’ and ‘hers’ are therefore the main exception to a word indicating possession taking an apostrophe.

What’s mine is yours.
Their’s is much smaller than our’s.

Take extra care with the pronoun ‘its’ (owned by it), which doesn’t need an apostrophe. Even when you know the rule, it is easy to write the contraction ‘it’s’ (short for ‘it is’) simply because we use it so often. And a spell check may not pick it up.

Every company must report its earnings to the tax office.
This software can reduce it’s processing speed to cater for old computers.
Other cases
Don’t use apostrophes with regular plural nouns or Australian place names, unless they own something
2 radios
Batemans Bay

When we are not thinking consciously about apostrophe rules and exceptions, it is easy for our brains to put apostrophes in words that don’t need them – simply because some of the rules and cases appear to clash.

Never add apostrophes to regular plural nouns that don’t own anything, even when the ‘s’ comes after a vowel, a number or a shortened form.

Videos and DVDs remained popular in the 1990s and 2000s.
We invite staff to take taxi’s to client meetings on rainy day’s.

And don’t add apostrophes to any Australian place names, or to organisation names unless the organisation itself uses one.

David Jones could open a new store near Kings Cross.

A director from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs will visit the St Mary’s office soon.

The removal of apostrophes from place names is one of the features of Australian style – a decision that stems back to the 1960s. Not only is this simpler, but it is technically justified because the words in place names are descriptive more than possessive. The ‘King’ does not actually own ‘Kings Cross’. In countries such as the United Kingdom, there is an inconsistent mix with some names taking apostrophes and some not.

See also:   Contractions,  Plurals,  Pronouns