Sorry. An apostrophe is used in a possessive form, like Esther's family or Janet's cigarettes, and this is the use of the apostrophe which causes most of the trouble. However, this is a commonly repeated mistake across the Internet. To make most proper and common nouns possessive nouns we need only add an apostrophe and then an “s” like this: Sam’s dog has fleas. because there is no such word as *ladie. The login page will open in a new tab. The correct form is For example, none of these words as used in the sentences below require an apostrophe because they are only plural not possessive. But note In grammar speak, the apostrophe shows the possessive of nouns. that For example, “Sam and Dave” is a compound. I’m not sure whether that gets a period in addition to the question mark inside the final quotation mark. Hey, my name is Heiko. Thus, for example, something like *ladie's shoes is impossible, In both cases, the pluralization of the noun(s) following the verb doesn’t matter. for the sentence “he’s trying to keep up with the Joneses/Jones’/Jones’s. Using apostrophes with possessive nouns gets a little more confusing when the noun ends in a sibilant (an s, z or x sound). Mrs. Glass’s house is near Gus’s office. Note, however, that the indefinite pronoun one forms an ordinary Second, a name ending in s takes only an apostrophe if the possessive Possessive nouns are nouns that show ownership. Although, English has many exceptions to its many rules so there might be a specific case where that doesn’t hold true, but I can’t think of any off-hand. It even gets worse when words and in two “ss” I think that there should be a better way to indicate possessive than with an apostrophe since that’s used for conjunctions. The word “school” is implied. The girls play basketball. So when you want to show possession, you put the apostrophe first, then the “s.” Here are some more examples. The basic rule is simple enough: a possessive form is spelled with 's at Moreover, a department in a shoeshop Which one is correct? In a sense, the pay belongs to those three months. Maintained by the Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, The Full Stop, the Question Mark and the Exclamation Mark. What’s the rule with names ending in doubles eg. Because Sam and Dave made or performed the song together. So, this is a singular possessive made by adding an apostrophe and an \'s.\' But with a phrase such as form is not pronounced with an extra s. Hence: Same reason: we don't say *Ulysses's companions, and so we don't Plurals and possessives are a little different. Hi, It’s like saying “three months of pay.” If you can use the word “of” in the sentence, then you probably need an apostrophe. . And that’s how you form a plural possessive. I’m not sure their familial relationship really matters at all, because unless they co-own the cars, they don’t belong to both ladies. Various situations in possessives grammar call for a few seemingly tricky rules. How to Take Notes: The 10-Step Guide to Note-Taking (Infographic), CMOS vs. AP – Recent Changes & Comparison, The Daily Word Counts of 19 Famous Writers, The Ideal Length of Everything You Write Online ( Infographic), 8 Famous Authors and Their Favorite Writing Spots, 9 Commonly Confused and Often Hysterical Song Lyrics, The Simpsons’ spaceship (the spaceship belongs to the Simpson family; you make the family name plural to show that you’re referring to all of the family members), The dogs’ tails (the tails belong to the dogs), The lakes’ water (the water belongs to the lakes), The women’s babies (“women” is the plural form of “woman”), The firemen’s trucks (“firemen” is the plural of “fireman”), The dice’s roll (“dice” always means there is more than one). “The president’s official airplane” is one example. Thank you! in Who's your friend? If the people collectively owned several cats, and we were discussing the cats’ toys. (Compare that lady's shoes, which is fine.). It would probably be best to rearrange the sentence to “The parents of St. George’s”. The same goes for possessive whose: this cannot be spelled as *who's, ends in s takes only a following apostrophe: This is reasonable. . Susan’s and Tom’s dinner plates are still on the table.