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Many students are confused about the use of apostrophes in their writing. Apostrophes have two main uses: firstly, they can indicate where letters are left out of words (contractions); secondly, they indicate possession.
Contractions
The apostrophe can indicate where letters are left out of words (e.g. ‘can't' for ‘cannot'; ‘I'll' for ‘I will'; ‘they're' for ‘they are'). These contractions are from informal speech and are not common in academic writing except where speech is being quoted. Do not use apostrophes in contractions in academic writing.
Possession
The apostrophe is also used to show ownership. Sometimes it may be clear ownership of a thing by a thing (“the premier's residence”). At other times it will ownership of an idea or words (“Sartre's concept”, “Bob Hawke's promise”), or the owner will be a concept (“Crime's consequence”). All of these examples could be written differently with more words: “The residence of the premier”, “The concept of Sartre”, “The promise of Bob Hawke” and “The consequence of crime”. Using apostrophe s is a more direct way of writing.
Singular
Add an apostrophe and an s:
King's expedition The defendant's rights Winter's curse
Plural
If the plural is regular and already has an s then simply put an apostrophe:
The soldiers' unit Students' facilities
Irregular plurals
If the plural is irregular and has no s then add an apostrophe and an s:
The people's choice Children's education Women's lives
Family names
In the past the final s after an apostrophe was dropped for family names of two or more syllables and ending in s (e.g. “Dickens' books”, “R. M. Williams' contribution”). This custom is now frequently applied to all family names ending in s (e.g. “Tom Jones' ballads”), but correct practice is to use an apostrophe s (e.g. “Philip Glass's composition”).
Its and it's
Its is a possessive word and does not need an apostrophe. It's is a contraction of it is. It is better not to use contractions like it's in academic writing.
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