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.

When you want to show that something belongs to that person or thing, you add a possessive apostrophe and an 's'. For example: The cat's tail was fluffy. The 's' shows that the tail belongs to the cat. Top tip! If a singular noun already ends in 's', you don't need to add another 's'. You can just add an apostrophe at the end.

To show possession using an apostrophe, add ’s for individuals (“Smith’s car”) and just the apostrophe after the s for plurals (“the Smiths’ car,” “the Martinezes’ dog”). By convention, names from classical mythology and the Bible ending in s show possession with the apostrophe only (“Jesus’ teachings”).

Apostrophes can indicate possession. To indicate that something belongs to someone, simply add an apostrophe plus an “s.” For example, “the dog’s leash” lets us know the leash is the dog’s. If the noun is plural and ends in “s,” you simply put the apostrophe after the “s.”

Use the apostrophe to show possession. To show possession with a singular noun, add an apostrophe plus the letter s.