The use of the apostrophe in English

[GeorgeUK]

The apostrophe and its use when describing possession of nouns is one of the most misunderstood parts of written English so I thought I would set down two simple rules for any scholars out there.

when possessing a singlular noun (or one object)

- the dog's tail

this is when describing one dog and his tail.

for plurals:-

the dogs' tails

this is when describing tails  belonging to more than one dog

There are many instances when the rule is changed but as a rule of thumb, follow this and you won't go too far wrong.

[dtommy79]

And of course it's mostly used for people and animals, for things and ideas use "of" to express possession.

[deen the breen]

thank you for sharing this with us dtommy79. I really have problems with this in English. :wacky:

[mleocasas]

Fun with apostrophes and tails:

In Tommy's tale, he dogs' tails wag while the Katie's cats tail them.

[writestuff13]

A notable exception to this rule is the case if it's vs its.

It's is actually a contraction of it+is (as in "it's cold outside"). Its is possessive (as in "the dog wagged its tail").

Apostrophes are also used for other contractions, like do+not=don't or will+not=won't.

[nonsiccus]

You should also note that when throwing a possessive apostrophe on a word that ends in an "s", you can add it to the end of the word instead of adding another 's.

For example:

This is nonsiccus' forum thread.

vs

This is nonsiccus's forum thread.

Now, it's arguable that both are acceptable depending on what style guide you're referencing, but I think by and large the former is the correct way to go about it. I'm open to correction though if anyone has an objection?

[LauraM]

The apostrophe is difficult even for native speakers.  I frequently see it misused.  In recent years, I have noticed that people will use the apostrophe seemingly randomly for words that end in the letter "s" when clearly it is not needed. 

Here's an example of what I mean.

This is incorrect:  "The boy travel's with his parents and likes to go on walk's in the park"

This is correct: "The boy travels with his parents and likes to go on walks in the park."

As for the rules for the use of the apostrophe, this is a great resource.  It gives details on the rules and has numerous examples.  It's very helpful!

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/621/01/

[IsaacChase]

A notable exception to this rule is the case if it's vs its.

It's is actually a contraction of it+is (as in "it's cold outside"). Its is possessive (as in "the dog wagged its tail").

This is one of many rules of our language that are fading from existence thanks to Facebook.

[nonsiccus]

The apostrophe is difficult even for native speakers.  I frequently see it misused.  In recent years, I have noticed that people will use the apostrophe seemingly randomly for words that end in the letter "s" when clearly it is not needed. 

This is one of my biggest pet peeves when I proof read some of my co-worker's reports. I don't know why people feel compelled to add the 's to the end of a word in an ill-advised attempt to pluralize it. Do you have any idea why it has become so common in the past few years? I too have only started it seeing it commonly within the past 5-10 years, probably closely following the widespread adoption of the internet...

[BWL]

There is another exception that I can remember. if the plural is an irregular one, where you don't add an 's' but change the word in some other way, the possessive is always 'apostrophe s'.

The main words like this are : men's, women's and children's. For example: "men's clothes", "women's shoes" and "children's toys". We do not write MENS' or WOMENS' or CHILDRENS'.

[Ariel]

Another tricky use of the apostrophe/possessive that hasn't been mentioned yet is with who.

Who's = who is

Who's running the bake sale tomorrow?

Whose = possessive

Whose car is this?

[kmpisces]

It is true that people often misuse the '.  I think it is because there are so many different rules pertaining to its use.  Sometimes people use the apostrophe in the wrong way.  They might for instance, want to say "The dog ate its bone" and they might write its as it's to show ownership.  But in this case no apostrophe is used.