Apostrophes can be a common source of confusion for many people, especially those who are learning English. However, this need not be the case, as this easy-to-follow article can help you to use apostrophes correctly in your writing.

Apostrophes are used in two ways - to show possession and to indicate contractions (shortened versions of words).

Using Apostrophes to Show Possession

This is probably the most common use of an apostrophe. It is used to show possession by a person, thing of some other person or thing. For example: "Jane's computer" or "Asia's economy".

Using an apostrophe to show possession is actually pretty straightforward, yet it's often a cause of confusion for many writers. When dealing with an apostrophe used for possession, there are two separate cases to bear in mind: singular nouns and plural nouns.

As you know, a noun is a word that represents a person or thing. Examples include "cat", "Jane", "hope", "car" and "Africa". Nouns can be either singular or plural - boy and boys, trench, trenches, etc.

Singular Nouns

When a noun is singular (i.e. it represents a single thing or person) possession is shown by adding an apostrophe - s. For example:

the boy's kite

Europe's troubled economy

the artist's paints

Australia's wildlife

the dog's coat.

Plural Nouns

When a noun is plural (i.e. it represents several things or people) shared possession is shown by placing an apostrophe after the "s". For example:

the board members' decision (the decision is shared by two or more members)

the players' skill (the skill possessed by two or more players)

the students' books (the books shared by two or more

students)

the actors' costumes (the costumes shared by two or more actors).

One Exception
As with many rules concerning English grammar, there is an exception. This exception involves nouns that form their plural without adding an s. For example: man/men, child/children, person/people, sheep/sheep etc.

These words use the apostrophe - s in both their forms. For example:

the man's suit (the suit belonging to one man)

the women's college (the college belonging to two or more women)

the child's toy (the toy belonging to one child)

the children's toy (the toy shared by two or more children)

Using Apostrophes to Indicate Contractions

Another use of the apostrophe is to indicate contractions. A contraction is simply a shortened version of a word whereby several letters are omitted, such as "isn't" (is not), "wouldn't" (would not) and "can't" (cannot), I'm (I am), won't (will not).

In contractions, the apostrophe appears in place of the omitted letter or letters. For example, in shortening "do not" to "don't" the apostrophe replaces the missing second "o".
If you practise these simple and straightforward rules, you'll soon see that using apostrophes properly is really quite easy.

KJ Hutchings is the owner of KJ Language Services, providing proofreading, editing and writing services to businesses and students, in particular those who use English as a second language. For more information, visit her site at: http://www.kjlanguageservices.com/