1 notice A walk year’s … day’s … Place names do not contain apostrophes. Stones Corner Shaws Bay When two or more nouns indicate joint ownership, only the last noun takes an apostrophe. Ms Martin and strategy Mr Blake’s When the ownership is not joint, add an apostrophe to each noun. Ms and strategies Martin’s Mr Blake’s Possessive compound nouns take an apostrophe on the last word of the phrase. someone idea chief of else’s staff’s opinion Some organisations include an apostrophe in their names. Always check the official names of organisations to ensure their accuracy. Corporate Services Division Department of Veterans’ Affairs Contractions You can use apostrophes to indicate when letters have been omitted (a contraction). Example Contraction cold today. not confuse with the possessive It is—do It’s pronoun ‘its’ right about that! You are—a common mistake is to write this as You’re is a pronoun—Your dog was sick ‘your’. ‘Your’ on the couch. responsible for this? mistake this for Who is—don’t Who’s ‘whose’. is a pronoun—Whose dog was sick? ‘Whose’ been to New York. He has He’s had enough and going home. We have, we are We’ve we’re While it is fine to use contractions, there are times when you may want to spell out the full expression so that you can emphasise (bold) the ‘not’. You must not ... If you do not have ... Plurals In almost all cases, it is incorrect to use an apostrophe to show a plural.
1 year’s notice … A day’s walk … Place names do not contain apostrophes. Stones Corner Shaws Bay When two or more nouns indicate joint ownership, only the last noun takes an apostrophe. Ms Martin and Mr Blake’s strategy When the ownership is not joint, add an apostrophe to each noun. Ms Martin’s and Mr Blake’s strategies Possessive compound nouns take an apostrophe on the last word of the phrase. someone else’s idea chief of staff’s opinion Some organisations include an apostrophe in their names. Always check the official names of organisations to ensure their accuracy. Corporate Services Division Department of Veterans’ Affairs Contractions You can use apostrophes to indicate when letters have been omitted (a contraction). Example Contraction It’s cold today. It is—do not confuse with the possessive pronoun ‘its’ You’re right about that! You are—a common mistake is to write this as ‘your’. ‘Your’ is a pronoun—Your dog was sick on the couch. Who’s responsible for this? Who is—don’t mistake this for ‘whose’. ‘Whose’ is a pronoun—Whose dog was sick? He’s been to New York. He has We’ve had enough and we’re going home. We have, we are While it is fine to use contractions, there are times when you may want to spell out the full expression so that you can emphasise (bold) the ‘not’. You must not ... If you do not have ... Plurals In almost all cases, it is incorrect to use an apostrophe to show a plural.
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