Apostrophes: Contractions and Possessives

To show possession for a singular proper noun, add an apostrophe followed by an s. Stanley's correctly indicates that something belongs to Stanley.

A contraction of did not is written as didn't. The apostrophe replaces the missing o in not.

The contraction for could have is could've. The apostrophe replaces the letters h and a.

The contraction for did not is didn't. The apostrophe is placed between the n and the t to represent the omitted o.

When two people share ownership of the same item, the apostrophe is added only to the final name. Therefore, Sam and Suzy's is correct.

To show possession for a singular noun, add 's to the end of the word. Max's is the correct possessive form.

A possessive noun indicates that a person, place, or thing owns or is associated with something else. This is the definition of ownership or membership.

Apostrophes are primarily used for two purposes: to show possession (e.g., John's car) and to indicate omitted letters in contractions (e.g., can't).