Month: April 2017

The word it’s only has an apostrophe when it is a contraction of it is or it has.

It’s a lovely day.
The film was poor, I’m glad it’s finished.
Now I can ride a bike, it’s easy!

Apostrophes are used to show possession, but there are other ways to show possession using possessive pronouns or determiners:

Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, our, theirs.
Determiners: my, your, his, her, its, our, their. 

These words do give an indication of belonging or possession, and some of them end in -s, but they never have an apostrophe.

So, if you are not sure whether to write its or it’s, simply substitute the words ”it is“. As a rule of thumb, if the sentence still makes sense then you can still use the apostrophe, otherwise leave it out.

Generally apostrophes are never used to form plurals. However, it is acceptable to use an apostrophe for the sake of clarity when forming the plural of a single letter or a single number:

Find all the number 7’s on this page.
Mind your p’s and q’s.
Put a circle round all the t’s in tittle-tattle.

An apostrophe is used to show that a person or object belongs or relates to someone or something.

Instead of saying “the mother of Sally” or “the rays of the Sun”  we simply say Sally’s mother or the Sun’s rays.

With singular nouns and most personal names add an apostrophe plus -s

The party was at Pete’s  house.
The dog’s bowl was empty.
Mum’s  car broke down on the way home from town.
Last Friday’s  concert was excellent.

With personal names that end in -s, if you would naturally pronounce an extra -s when you say the name out loud, then add an apostrophe plus an -s :

The nurse worked at St. James’s hospital in Leeds.
Charles’s brother is a professional footballer.

With personal names that end in s but with which you would not pronounce the extra -s, just add an apostrophe after the final -s :

A Christmas Carol was the shortest of Dickens’ novels.
Wesley Snipes’ best film was probably Demolition Man.

With plural nouns ending in -s, add an apostrophe after the final -s :

Edward borrowed his parents’ car.
Just inside the door was the ladies’ cloakroom.
Footballers’ wives sit together to watch the game.

With plural nouns that do not end in -s, add an apostrophe plus an -s:

The men’s cloakroom was at the end of the corridor.
The children’s centre is closed on Saturdays.
Top Shop sells women’s clothing.

Note: possessive pronouns/determiners do not need an apostrophe to denote possession ( his, hers, ours, yours, theirs)

Apostrophes are used to show that some letters have been missed out. This usually happens when two words are run together to make a single word.

This is called a contraction and happens quite a lot – particularly in spoken English. This being the case, students will find that they use this type of apostrophe most often in their writing when they are using direct speech.

There is a case for suggesting that, unless they are using direct speech, contractions should be avoided.

Here are some examples of apostrophes letters have been left out:

We’ll – short for we will.
We’ll get a dog when we move into our new house.
I’m – short for I am.
I’m happy that l can have tomorrow off work.
I’d – short for I would.
I’d like fish and chips for tea, please.
Can’t – short for can not.
Mum can’t afford a new car just yet.
Didn’t – short for did not.
Jenny didn’t go to the party on Saturday.

There are many other examples of contractions and the way in which apostrophes are used to indicate where letters have been omitted.

Click here to see a list of words that use an apostrophe to indicate that there is a letter or letters missing.

An apostrophe can also show that numbers have been omitted:

Can you remember the summer of ’69?
I was in Berlin when the wall fell in ’89.