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.

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.

An apostrophe followed by an “s” is the most common way to indicate possession (ownership) in English. This applies to most singular nouns and also to plural nouns that don’t end in “s” (e.g., “women” becomes “women’s”).

One of the primary uses of the apostrophe is to indicate possession. When you want to show that something belongs to someone or something, you use an apostrophe. For example: John’s car The cat’s tail The children’s toys Note that the apostrophe is placed before the “s” when the noun is singular, and after the “s” when the noun is plural.

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.