ApostrophesAn overview

Does the apostrophe go before or after the s?

It usually goes before the s if the word is singular. When the word is already plural, the apostrophe usually goes after the s.

S - Singular P – Plural Examples:

(S)The children played at Tom’s house.

(P)The basketball team went to change in the girls’ locker room.

Apostrophes are most often used with:

People

Animals

In some time expressions

PeopleI spent two weeks at my friend's

uncle's house.

I'm going to my parents' house next weekend. (plural)

You can sleep in the children's room. If the noun is irregular the apostrophe stays before the ‘s’

Irregular NounsChild ChildrenAnalysis Analyses Cactus Cacti Calf Calves Elf Elves Foot Feet Goose Geese Knife Knives

Leaf Leaves Life Lives Loaf Loaves Man Men Mouse Mice Person People Scissors (Scissors) Tooth Teeth

*Irregular nouns are nouns that you can’t just add an s at the end to make them plural – the spelling changes when made plural e.g. mouse – mice, elf - elves.

AnimalsDon't eat those! They're the dog's

biscuits! (1 dog)

Don't eat those! They're the dogs' biscuits! (* two dogs or more)

The lion opened its mouth and roared. There’s no apostrophe in possessive ‘s’ with the pronoun ‘it’ (it’s = it is or it has)

Some time expressions

When the time reference is in thesingular, the apostrophe should beretained to help mark the noun as

singular:

A day's journey

The year's cycle

Adding an apostrophe can make some letters, numbers, andexpressions plural.

To make a lower case letter plural, add an apostrophe +s

The correct spelling of Mississippi has four s’s and four i’s

All the x’s and o’s in your message tell me you love me!

*Capital LettersGenerally, you use an s without

an apostrophe to make capital letters plural *unless the s would confuse the reader:

The College has a lot of instructors with PhDs.

Sarah helped the nurse hang John’s IVs on the holder.

*Capital LettersUse the apostrophe when the s will

create a word for instance:(Using the s with letters I,U,A will

make the word is, us, as)

Many of you have gotten into thebad habit of not capitalizing yourI’s because of the way youcompose text messages.

Numbers made pluralNumbers should be made plural

by simply adding an s.

Can you please give me two 5s for my ten dollar bill?

My phone number has three 7s in it.

Expressions made pluralThe ayes beat the nays in the

vote for adding the stop sign on that corner.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it, your room needs to be cleaned up!

Thanks for watching!