Apostrophes

We use apostrophes (’) for three main reasons.

Missing letters

Apostrophes replace letters in contracted forms (see here).

• can’t (= cannot)
• it’s (= it is/has)
• I’d (= I would/had)
• who’s (= who is/has)

Possessives

We use apostrophes before or after possessive -s (see here).

• the girl’s father
• Charles’s wife
• my parents’ house

Possessive determiners and pronouns (e.g. yours, its) do not have apostrophes.

• This money is yours. (not … your’s.)
• The cat had not had its food yet. (not … it’s food …)
• Whose house did she stay in? (not Who’s …)

Special plurals

Words which do not usually have plurals sometimes have an apostrophe when a plural form is written.

• It is a nice idea, but there are a lot of if’s.

Apostrophes are generally used in the plurals of letters, and sometimes of numbers and abbreviations.

• He writes b’s instead of d’s.
• It was in the early 1980’s. (More usually: … 1980s.)
• I know two MP’s personally. (More usually: … MPs.)

It is not correct to put apostrophes in normal plurals.

• JEANS – HALF PRICE (not JEAN’S …)