24 Punctuation: Apostrophes
After completing this chapter, you will be able to
- use apostrophes correctly to make contractions and possessives
Apostrophes
Apostrophes are used for two reasons:
- to create a contraction (it is = it’s)
- to create a possessive (owned by Deborah = Deborah’s)
Contractions
A contraction is a word that is formed by combining two words. In a contraction, an apostrophe indicates where one or more letters have been left out when the two words are combined. Contractions are commonly used in informal writing but not in formal writing.
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1121/2021/03/Apostrophes4.jpg)
Common Contractions
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1121/2021/03/apostr_ComCntrns-1.png)
Possession
Apostrophes are used with a noun or indefinite pronoun to show who or what belongs to something or someone.
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1197/2021/04/Picture32.png)
To determine where the apostrophe goes in a word that shows possession, you must first determine if the noun or indefinite pronoun is singular or plural.
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1197/2021/04/Picture33.png)
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1197/2021/04/Picture34.png)
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1121/2021/03/apostr_Possession.png)
Determining whether or not to place an apostrophe before or after an s to show possession in a sentence is a three-step process:
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1197/2021/04/Picture36.png)
Apostrophes to Show Joint or Separate Ownership
Apostrophes can be used to show joint ownership or individual ownership.
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1197/2021/04/Picture37.png)
Apostrophes in Hyphenated Compound Words
To show possession when using hyphenated compound words, add an apostrophe and an s at the end of the last hyphenated word regardless of whether or not the nouns are singular or plural.
![](https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/app/uploads/sites/1197/2021/04/Picture38.png)
Watch these videos to review what you’ve learned about apostrophes[1] [2].
Additional Resources
- Shannon, D. (2021, March 28). Apostrophes 1 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/0FuzpY1sN1w. ↵
- Shannon, D. (2021, March 28). Apostrophe2 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Xbu9ZWfgwYw. ↵