February 11, 2008
Writing
Tip of the Week
Correct Use of the Apostrophe—Part
1
Apostrophes determine possession—who owns what.
1) Use “’s” to form the possessive of singular or
plural nouns or indefinite pronouns not ending in “s”:
defendant’s alibi parents’ testimony anybody’s guess
**Reminder: Apostrophes are not used with the (already)
possessive forms of personal pronouns: yours, his, hers, its, ours,
theirs.
2) Use
“’s”
to form the possessive of singular nouns ending in “-s” as long as the
resulting word is not
difficult to pronounce.
James’s contract business’s license witness’s testimony
Three or more “s”
sounds together are difficult to pronounce.
When necessary, avoid three “s” sounds together by dropping the “s”
after the apostrophe. In the examples
above, the double "s" ending in "business" or
"witness" makes only one “s” sound, so when the “’s” is
added, as in “business’s” or “witness’s,” only two “s” sounds are required. However, when these same words are followed
by words that begin with the “s” sound, then
the “s” after the apostrophe is dropped for ease of pronunciation.
business’ sales witness’ signature
3) Use only an apostrophe to form the possessive of plural
nouns ending in “-s.”
framers’ intent workers’ rights Smiths’ attorney
**Tip:
It is easier to form the plural possessives correctly if you form the
plural first and then apply the
rules for possessives.
***Reminder:
The apostrophe is never used to create the plural form of proper nouns.
Ungrammatical: Holiday Greetings from the
Smiths’
Grammatical:
Holiday
Greetings from the Smiths’ house
4) Use “’s” after the last word to form the possessive
of a compound word or word
group:
mother-in-law’s statement attorney general’s
office
5) To show joint possession, use “’s” only after the last noun
in a group of two or more
nouns; to show individual possession, use “’s” after each of the nouns in
a group of two or more nouns:
Jeff and Kate’s stock----------------------------------stocks
are jointly owned
Jeff’s and Kate’s
stock--------------------------------some stocks are owned by Jeff;
some are owned by Kate
Adapted from: The Legal Writing Handbook—Oates, Enquist, and Kunsch
Prepared by: Jennifer Lussier and Chris Dunn