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”).

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.

The rules about forming possessive nouns probably cause the most apostrophe confusion. They vary a bit, depending on what type of noun you are making into a possessive. Here are the rules of thumb: For most singular nouns, add -’s: The dog’s leash The writer’s desk The planet’s atmosphere For most plural nouns, add only an apostrophe: