Apostrophe: Use & Examples

Introduction: What is an Apostrophe?

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark that is mainly used to show possession or ownership of something or someone. It can also be used to form contractions and to indicate missing letters and numbers. It is indicated by the symbol ’.

• According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, an apostrophe is defined as the mark (’) used to show that one or more letters or numbers have been left out. For example: she’s for she is and ’63 for 1963.”

• The Cambridge Dictionary defines an apostrophe as “the symbol ’ used in writing to show when a letter or a number has been left out. For example: I’m (= I am) or ’85 (= 1985), or that is used before or after s to show possession for example Helen’s house or babies’ hands”.

• An apostrophe, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as “a mark ‘used to indicate the omission of letters or figures, the possessive case (as in “John’s book”), or the plural of letters or figures (as in ‘the 1960’s’)”.

• The Collins Dictionary defines an apostrophe as “the mark ‘when it is written to indicate that one or more letters have been left out of a word, for example ‘isn’t’ and ‘we’ll’. It is also added to nouns to form possessives. For example: ‘Mike’s car’.”

How to Use an Apostrophe? – Rules and Points to Remember

An apostrophe can be said to be multi-functional. The primary function of an apostrophe is to indicate the ownership of some object or some person by another. Other functions include indicating the plural form of letters and numbers; denoting a missing number or letter and also to form contractions.

Image: Example of a typographic apostrophe in the word "it's".(Attribution: Mihia, Typographic apostrophe, CC BY-SA 4.0)

There are a few points one needs to keep in mind when using an apostrophe to perform the various functions. Let’s take a look at the following points to learn what they are.

• The apostrophe, when used to show possession or ownership, should be placed just immediately after the noun or pronoun which is the owner of the mentioned object or person, followed by an ‘s’.

• If the noun or pronoun already has ‘s’ as its last letter, the apostrophe comes after the letter ‘s’. Also, in this case, you need not add another ‘s’ after the apostrophe as it is already understood.

• Another rule of using the apostrophe to show possession is that you should add an apostrophe and an ‘s’ only to the second word in a hyphenated compound word.

• Also, if two or more nouns show separate ownership, you can use apostrophes for both the nouns. On the other hand, if both the nouns or pronouns own the same thing, use an apostrophe and an ‘s’ at the end of the latter noun or pronoun.

• When using an apostrophe to indicate a missing letter or a number, the apostrophe is placed exactly in the space where the letter is missing. Also, remember that even if more than one letter or number is missing, you should add only one apostrophe and not as many apostrophes as the missing numbers or letters.

• An apostrophe can be used to form contractions like can’t, I’m, don’t, etc. In these contractions too, the apostrophe is placed in between the letters where the letters are missing.

Let’s look at some more uses of an apostrophe −

Using an Apostrophe to Indicate Possession

I am my mother's daughter in every aspect, everyone keeps reminding me.

Yesterday, Bablu's dog ran away.

Have you seen my bike's keys?

Put the apostrophe + s after the second name only if two persons own the same thing.

Manish and Dani's house is made of wood.

Making Contracts with an Apostrophe

Don't you think you can manage to finish this task by tomorrow?

They’re missing from the hotel.

If you need any help, I'm just a phone call away!

It wasn’t your fault, anyway.

Apostrophes are used to indicate missing letters and numbers.

We played the game a li’l differently.

Jeremy was definitely o’er the top when the results were announced.

People who grew up in the ‘90s have a very different worldview.

From ‘03 – ‘15, I lived in Delhi.

Adding an apostrophe to a compound or hyphenated noun to indicate ownership.

My father-in-law’s car was towed away this morning.

This is my great-grandfather’s pocket watch.

Precautions When Using an Apostrophe

Following are some things to be careful about while using an apostrophe −

• False possessives, which frequently appear with nouns ending in s, should be avoided. Apostrophes should not be added to noun-derived adjectives with an s ending.

  Incorrect − We enjoyed the Buenos Aires’ culture.

• The word the in the previous clause only makes sense if Buenos Aires is being used as an adjective to describe the culture. Nouns commonly turn into adjectives in English. Apostrophes are quite uncommon for adjectives.

  Incorrect − He’s a United States’ citizen.

  Correct − He’s a United States citizen

• Don't show ownership by altering y to ies in nouns with y endings.

  Incorrect − the company’s principles.

  Correct − the companies principles.

When a noun with a y ending becomes multiple, ies' is used to indicate possession.

Common Contractions Using an Apostrophe

Let’s take a quick look at some of the common contractions using an apostrophe.

Contraction	Expanded Usage
I’m	I am
Can’t	Cannot
Don’t	Do not
Didn’t	Did not
Won’t	Will not
Aren’t	Are not
Wouldn’t	Would not
Haven’t	Have not
She’d	She had
It’s	It is
She’s	She is/ She has
He’s	He is/ He has
They’ve	They have
We’ve	We have
I’ve	I have
We’d	We would / we had