Brief Guide to Punctuation - Stockton College

28 APOSTROPHES & POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Abigail and Deirdre’s dinner was late.
English has not always employed apostrophes to show possession.
Read unedited texts from the seventeenth century and earlier
(and some from the eighteenth) and you will see that apostrophes
were often neglected. But we live in the twenty-first century, not the
seventeenth; apostrophes are expected.
Use apostrophes to form contractions. Be aware that the tendency
to employ contractions has caused unfamiliarity with some
verb forms. Consider the sentences below.
The students could have walked to classes but drove instead.
The verb phrases could have and should have are so frequently contracted,
at least in speech, that incorrect constructions are often
seen.
not. The professors should of walked to classes, but they drove as well.
Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns do not use apostrophes to show possession;
they are possessive by their very nature.
His, her, their, its, our, mine
Not all pronouns are possessive. Consider the following sentence.
not. Ones best effort needs to be put into revision.
Here one’s is an indefinite pronoun and needs an apostrophe. Also,
remember that it’s is not possessive but the contraction for it is.