Section 8.7

Apostrophes

Use apostrophes to form the possessive case ofnouns and indefinitepronouns, and contractions. Optionally, apostrophes may alsobe used in the plurals of abbreviations and numbers.

Form the possessive of singular nouns and indefinite pronouns andof plural nouns that do not end in -s by adding-'s.

bacterium's [The plural isbacteria.]

anyone's

children's [The singular ischild.]

Also form the possessive of singular nouns that end in -sby adding -'s.

Yeats's letters

Form the possessive of plural animate nouns that end in-s by adding only the apostrophe after the -s:

species' locations

Try to form the possessive of inanimate nouns by using the preposition of.

position of the planets

Optionally, use the apostrophe to form the plurals of acronyms and numbers. Be consistent,however, throughout a document. Always use the apostrophe toform the plurals of lowercase letters.

x's

Use the apostrophe to form standard contractions of certainwords.

we + will = we'll

## Apostrophes ##


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