From the course: Writing with Proper Punctuation

How to use apostrophes for possessives

From the course: Writing with Proper Punctuation

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How to use apostrophes for possessives

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- One reason to use apostrophes is to make nouns possessive. If I were to write, "That is Charlie's report," the apostrophe and S at the end of Charlie shows that the report belongs to him. But the word possessive is a bit misleading, because using an apostrophe in this way isn't strictly about ownership or possession. "I'm Charlie's sister" doesn't literally mean that Charlie possesses me or owns me. It's just showing that I am his sister. The apostrophe S possessive is part of a bigger grammatical class, known as the genitive case. That includes using of, as in, "She's the sister of my wife," and it includes the possessive pronouns as in, "The company reported its earnings." One important point here is that although you use apostrophes to make nouns possessive, the company's earnings, you never use an apostrophe to make pronouns possessive. In other words, it's always, "The company reported its earnings," not, "The company reported it's earnings," with the apostrophe S. People sometimes also get confused about how to make words and names that end with S possessive. For example, if we're talking about James' report, is that James's, with an apostrophe and an S? Or just James with a lone apostrophe? It's actually different depending on which style guide you follow, which is why it's confusing. If you follow Associated Press style, which is common for newspapers and in the public relations industry, you use the loan apostrophe. But if you follow the Chicago Manual of Style or other more academic styles, you use both the apostrophe and the extra S. That possessive apostrophe is trickier than you thought, right? Here's the deal one more time, use that possessive apostrophe nouns, but not pronouns and check your style guide to see how you're supposed to make nouns that end with S possessive.

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