TACHS: Possessives and apostrophes: show who owns what
Place the apostrophe correctly for one owner, several owners and plurals like children, and know when no apostrophe belongs at all.
Where does the apostrophe go, and when should a word have none?
Short answer
Decide whether the word shows ownership, stands for a contraction, or is just a plural. One owner takes 's, a plural ending in s takes only an apostrophe, and possessive pronouns like its and whose never take one.
Know first: Singular and plural nouns, Contractions such as *it's* for *it is*
Step 1 of 5
Owner, contraction or plain plural?
An apostrophe has two jobs. It shows ownership (the dog's leash) or stands in for missing letters in a contraction (it's means it is or it has). A plain plural, like three dogs, takes no apostrophe at all.
Possessive pronouns already show ownership, so they never take an apostrophe: its, his, hers, ours, theirs, whose.
| Owner | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| One owner | Add 's | the cat's bowl, the bus's door |
| Plural owners ending in s | Add only an apostrophe | the cats' bowls, the coaches' whistles |
| Plural owners not ending in s | Add 's | the mice's nest, the women's team |
| Possessive pronoun | No apostrophe | its tail, whose coat, theirs |
| Plain plural | No apostrophe | the tomatoes are ripe |
Step 2 of 5
Test each apostrophe in turn
Worked example: A holiday bakery
Which line contains an error in standard written English? Choose No error if all three lines are correct.
Line 1: The bakery changed it's hours for the holiday.
Line 2: Both owners' signatures appear on the sign.
Line 3: The men's soccer team bought the last pie.
- ALine 1
- BLine 2
- CLine 3
- DNo error
- 1
Line 1
Read it's as it is: changed it is hours makes no sense. The word shows ownership, so it should be its. This is the error.
- 2
Line 2
Both means two owners. Owners ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after it: owners'. Correct.
- 3
Line 3
Men is a plural that does not end in s, so it takes 's: men's. Correct.
- 4
See why the other choices are there
Line 2 looks odd with the apostrophe at the end, and Line 3 looks odd with 's on a plural. Both are correct, which is why they tempt students who go by looks.
Answer
Line 1. It should read The bakery changed its hours for the holiday.
Wrong: The coaches's whistles hung by the door.
Right: The coaches' whistles hung by the door.
Coaches already ends in s, so add only the apostrophe. Never add 's after a plural s.
Step 3 of 5
Check every apostrophe and every plural
Check yourself · Question 1
Which line contains an error in standard written English? Choose No error if all three lines are correct.
Line 1: The puppies chased each other across the yard.
Line 2: The mice's tracks led behind the shed.
Line 3: My neighbor's garden is full of tomato's this summer.
Answer: C
Tomato's is a plain plural, not an owner, so it needs no apostrophe: tomatoes. Neighbor's is correct for one neighbor.
Trap answer: Line 2
An irregular plural that looks wrong
- Why it looks right
- 's usually means one owner, and mice is plural, so mice's looks like a mix-up.
- Why it's wrong
- Plurals that do not end in s, like mice, children and people, take 's to show ownership.
- The right answer
- Line 3, where tomato's should be the plain plural tomatoes.
Check yourself · Question 2
Which line contains an error in standard written English? Choose No error if all three lines are correct.
Line 1: It's been a week since the team's last game.
Line 2: The players' parents organized a car wash.
Line 3: Whose idea was the bright yellow sign?
Answer: D
It's means it has here, team's shows one team owning, players' shows several players, and whose is a possessive pronoun with no apostrophe.
Common mistake
Adding an apostrophe to make a word plural, as in The apple's are ripe.
- Why it's tempting
- The word ends in s, and an apostrophe seems to mark that ending.
- Do this instead
- Plurals take no apostrophe unless they own something: The apples are ripe.
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- One owner takes 's. A plural owner ending in s takes only an apostrophe.
- Plurals like children and mice take 's. Plain plurals take no apostrophe.
- Its and whose show ownership. It's and who's are contractions.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
Try another one
In your own words
In the practice question, which word showed ownership with no apostrophe, and how did you check that it was correct?