To Show Possession

When we use an apostrophe to show possession, we typically place the punctuation mark at the end of a noun followed by the letter ‘s’. This shows that whatever comes next belongs to the noun with the apostrophe. Here’s an example to make that clearer:

• The boy’s clothes were covered in mud. – Boy’s, with an apostrophe, shows that the clothes belong to the boy. So, we use an apostrophe and the letter ‘s’ with the noun ‘boy’, to show that the clothes that were covered in mud belong to him.

Sometimes, the noun that we are showing possession with already ends in the letter ‘s’. Here, different writers approach what to do differently. We’ll provide you with different ways to write it if, for example, we were writing about a character named Mr. Roberts. Here are the different ways that people might approach it:

• Mr. Roberts’ car had broken down. – Notice how in this case we do not use an additional ‘s’, we simply add an apostrophe to the end of Mr. Roberts to show possession. But that isn’t the only way to approach it.
• Mr. Roberts’s car had broken down. – Here we used an apostrophe and the additional ‘s’. Without a standard rule, writers are free to make their mind up about whether to add the additional ‘s’ after the apostrophe. Some establishments require a particular style, so if you are writing for a company it is best to check what they prefer, otherwise you’re free to pick a style that suits you.

*Please note, there is also a third way to approach this. Some writers would simply write the word how they would say it. So with Mr. Roberts they would be more likely to write is as ‘Mr. Roberts’ car’ because that would be how we would pronounce it. For a name like Mr. Jones, however, they may write it as ‘Mr. Jones’s car’ because we would typically pronounce it in that way. Again, it really is a decision for the writer unless there is a style that you must stick to for a particular reason, such as work.