University of Oxford Style Guide

PunctuationGeneral ruleUse as little punctuation as necessary while retaining the meaning of thesentence.Apostropheto indicate possessionUse ’s after singular nouns, plural nouns which do not end in s and indefinitepronouns.Frank’s bookanybody’s guessThe children’s play area is next to the men’s toilet.Use just ’ after plural nouns ending in s.Strong tea is sometimes called builders’ tea.If a name already ends in s or z and would be difficult to pronounce if ’s wereadded to the end, consider rearranging the sentence to avoid the difficulty.Jesus’s methods were unpopular with the ruling classes. ORThe methods of Jesus were unpopular with the ruling classes.In compound nouns and where multiple nouns are linked to make one concept,place the apostrophe at the end of the final part (and match it to that noun).the Archbishop of Canterbury’s tortoisemy mother-in-law’s doghis step-brothers’ carsLee and Herring’s Fist of FunDo not use an apostrophe in its with the meaning ‘belonging to it’ (this isanalogous with his/hers/theirs): note that it’s is a contraction of ‘it is’.The cat has been out in the rain and its paws are muddy.The cat has been out in the rain and it’s muddy.The cat has been out in the rain and it’s tail is wet.Some place names have an apostrophe and some don’t – this can’t bepredicted and must be checked.All Souls CollegeEarls CourtSt Peter’s CollegeLand’s EndUniversity of St AndrewsSome street names have an apostrophe (usually linked to saints’ names fromnearby churches); these are also idiosyncratic.There is a famous pub on St Giles’.St Giles’s splits into Woodstock and Banbury Roads.Christ Church is on St Aldate’s.St Michael’s Street is a through road for bicycles.Use apostrophes with noun phrases denoting periods of time (use anapostrophe if you can replace the apostrophe with ‘of’).He took a week’s holiday [holiday of a week].You must give three months’ notice [notice of three months].But do not use an apostrophe in adjectival phrases.She was eight months pregnant when she went into labour.Return to Contents9