The possessive case of plural nouns that end in s is formed by adding an apostrophe: This is the boys’ bedroom. My parents’ house is a lovely old one. The scissors’ handles just snapped off. The Jeffersons’ yard is always beautifully landscaped. The possessive case of irregular plural nouns that don’t end in s is formed by adding -’s.

Apostrophes do the following: Show possession (i.e., The car that belongs to Michael = Michael’s car) Indicate the omission of letters in words when forming contractions (i.e., It is = it’s) Create plurals ONLY when showing the plural form of a lower case letter (i.e., be sure to dot your i’s)

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:

General grammar rules (when using an apostrophe) The possessive singular noun is made by adding an apostrophe and the letter “s” to the singular noun in question, regardless of whether the singular noun ends in an “s” letter. When a plural noun has an “s” at the end, the possessive form of the noun is created by simply adding an apostrophe.