The UVic Writer's Guide


Using An Apostrophe To Show Possession


An apostrophe plus "s" is used to form the possessive case of these nouns:

An apostrophe alone is used to form the possessive case of these nouns:

If two or more nouns possess something, only the last noun in the list gets the apostrophe: Homer and Marge's party. If the two nouns possess separate things, however, they each take an apostrophe: We'll go in Robert's and Neil's cars.

In hyphenated words, only the last word takes an apostrophe: my brother-in-law's boat.

Possessive personal and interrogative pronouns such as yours and whose do not include apostrophes, but possessive indefinite pronouns such as anyone's and each other's do.


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Copyright, The Department of English, University of Victoria, 1995
This page updated September 21, 1995