Possessive apostrophes are apostrophes (’) used with the letter s at the end of a noun to show ownership over or a close connection with another noun. For example, if you were talking about the tail of your cat, you can add a possessive apostrophe and an s as punctuation to show which noun is the owner.

A possessive apostrophe is an apostrophe used in a noun to show that the noun owns something (e.g., woman's hat). More specifically, a possessive apostrophe and the letter s are added to a noun to make the noun possessive.

Apostrophes should not be used with possessive pronouns because possessive pronouns already show possession—they don't need an apostrophe. His, her, its, my, yours, ours are all possessive pronouns. However, indefinite pronouns, such as one, anyone, other, no one, and anybody, can be made possessive.

Apostrophes are used in possessive nouns to indicate that something belongs to something or someone else. To indicate possession with a singular noun, add an apostrophe “s” ’s at the end of the word. This also applies to names and other proper nouns.

The apostrophe has three uses: 1) to form possessive nouns; 2) to show the omission of letters; and 3) to indicate plurals of letters, numbers, and symbols. Do not use apostrophes to form possessive pronouns (i.e. his/her computer) or noun plurals that are not possessives.