Apostrophe Rules

1. Possession Adjectives are special words in English that do not take an apostrophe. There are only seven of these words. Memorize them:

	my	your	her	his
	our	their	its


Also note, words that sound the same but are not the same:

• Your - a possession adjective.
• You’re - a conjunctive meaning, "you are."



• Their - a possession adjective.
• They’re - a conjunctive meaning, "they are."


2. An apostrophe is used to indicate a missing letter or letters.

Examples (conjunctive - combination of two words):

	I can’t (can not)	I won’t (will not)
	It’s (it is)	I don’t (do not)



3. An apostrophe is used to indicate possession.

Examples:
      Fisher’s campus
      That purse is Sue’s
      Miller’s car repair shop
If there is more than one entity in possession, the apostrophe comes after the s:
      Millers’ car repair shop
      Kauffmans’ bakery


4. The conjunctive form takes precedence over the possessive form.

If the apostrophe has been used to form a conjunctive, and the same (conjunctive word) is used to indicate possession, the apostrophe is removed to indicate possession (see rule 1 above).


Examples:
      It’s time. (Meaning: It is time.)
      The cat is in its cage.


5. Apostrophes are not used to indicate plurals.

Examples:
      Wrong: Peach’s for sale.
      Right: Peaches for sale.

      Wrong: Business card’s designed per specification.
      Right: Business cards designed per specification.

      Wrong: 100’s of ways to get it done.
      Right: 100s of ways to get it done.

      Wrong: She has a large collection of CD’s.
      Right: She has a large collection of CDs.