Academic Language and Learning
Apostrophes (plus the problem of it's and its)
The apostrophe has only two uses:
- it indicates when a letter has been left out; and
- it indicates possession or ownership of an object.
Using apostrophes to indicate that a letter has been left out of a word
In informal speech and informal writing we often use contractions (shorter versions of a word). The following are some examples:
- don’t (do not)
- that’s (that is)
- doesn’t (does not)
- we’re (we are)
- it’s (it is, it has)
These contractions are NOT used in formal, scientific writing. While it is appropriate to say in conversation It's not an acceptable result you must write this in a laboratory report as It is not an acceptable result.
Using apostrophes to indicate possession
In order to know where to put the apostrophe in this case we need to know whether the owner is singular or plural.
If the owner is singular the apostrophe comes before the s. For example:
- the chemical’s colour (the colour belonging to the chemical)
- adrenaline’s response (the response belonging to adrenaline)
- the author’s opinion (the opinion belonging to the author)
If the owners are plural the apostrophe comes after the s. For example:
- the plants’ uptake (the uptake of the plants)
- the organisms’ reactions (the reactions of the organisms)
Some important points
- A number of pronouns are possessive and thus never have an apostrophe. For example:
- ours
- theirs
- hers
- yours
- its
NOTE: its is a possessive pronoun and NEVER has an apostrophe. For example:
The demographic survey was remarkable for its comprehensiveness.
- A common mistake is to put an apostrophe in when there is no possession and when the noun is simply plural. In the following sentence 1990s is plural and has no apostrophe.
Much research in the 1990s involved naturalistic settings.
- Some words are irregular plurals and do not have a plural s at the end. In these cases the apostrophe comes before the s. For example:
- women’s responses;
- children’s behaviour...
- After proper nouns ending in s you can write either: Jones’s study or Jones’ study...
- When ownership is joint the possessive is added to the last name only: in Black and Brown’s (1997) paper. When ownership is separate but multiple the possessive is added to all appropriate nouns: Smith’s (1991) and Watson’s (1990) studies.
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