Who Owns What?

One tiny mark can change the owner. Compare "the dog's lead" with "the dogs' lead". They sound nearly identical, but the apostrophe reveals whether one dog or several dogs own it. Move the mark, and the story changes. So... who owns what? Let's crack the code!

Possession means something belongs to an owner. Start with one owner: "the girl's bicycle". Find girl. Write girl, then add an apostrophe and s. The apostrophe sits BEFORE the s, showing that one girl owns the bicycle. You can see a line linking the girl to her bicycle. Now compare "the players' changing room". Several players share it. Players already ends in the plural s, so place only the apostrophe after that s. Keep both phrases aligned: one player, apostrophe then s; several players, s then apostrophe. No extra s. Some plurals do not end in s. Children is already plural, so "the children's books" takes apostrophe-s. But watch this... in "it's raining", it's means "it is". That apostrophe replaces letters; it does not show ownership. Try expanding the words before deciding. Ask, "Does something belong to someone?"

Let's work through an example. Add the missing apostrophes to this sentence: "The girls coats were beside the childrens bags." Your task is to make both owners clear. Coats belong to girls. Bags belong to children. So mark girls and children. The word girls means more than one girl and already ends in s. Put the apostrophe after that s: "girls' coats". Now the coats clearly belong to several girls, with no extra s. Children is an irregular plural. It has no plural s at the end, so add apostrophe-s: "children's bags". The complete answer is: "The girls' coats were beside the children's bags." Both marks show possession, not contractions.

Find the owner first. One owner usually takes apostrophe-s; a regular plural ending in s takes only an apostrophe; an irregular plural takes apostrophe-s. Ask who owns what... and you'll place it confidently!