Apostrophe (One vs One's)

Question

I have always wanted to know whether 'one' when used in the possessive sense uses an apostrophe or not?? After all, one is also a pronoun and all pronouns do not use apostrophe when used in the possessive sense. e.g. its, his, theirs. Or is the apostrophe omitted only when the possesive pronoun ends in an 's' and not otherwise?? Help..!am now thorughly confused! sigh...

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Yes, 'one' takes the apostrophe in the possessive.  Only the personal pronouns have specific (non-apostrophe) possessive forms ('one' is an indefinite pronoun).

Anonymous · Answer

Then you are saying that "one's" means both a possessive pronoun and "one is" ?

e.g. One's not to blame.

Yankee · Answer

Right. One's can also mean 'one has'.

Anonymous · Answer

I always thought that one's = one is.  Thus, when "one is" fits the sentence, use "one's."  If not, use "ones."  Have you received any replies or have you found the answer to your question from another source?

Yankee · Answer

Hi Anon

Here are the various possibilities with a sample sentence for each one:

ones = plural form of "one"
My son loves M&Ms, but for some reason he won't eat the brown ones. (plural)

.
one's = (a) possessive form of one, (b) one is, (c) one has:

(a) One should mind one's own business. (possessive)
(b) One's company, two's a crowd. (one is)
(c) That one's been sitting in the sun for hours, so it should probably be thrown away. (one has)

Anonymous · Answer

I would also like to see a link to an authority on this point. It does seem that one's ought to be equivalent to one is, and, therefore, the apostrophe omitted for the possessive. That seems consistent with its and it's. However, assuming consistency in the English language is never a safe assumption.

Mister Micawber · Answer

In the first place, 'one' is not a personal pronoun like its, her, his, my. It is an indefinite pronoun like everyone, somebody, and so forth, and it forms its genitive in the same way: Politics is everyone's business. I've stolen somebody's hat.

On the other hand: Somebody's ( = somebody has) stolen my hat. Everyone's ( = everyone is) already at the meeting. The cat's hat is red and white. The cat's out of the bag. The cat's been chasing the canary again. Do you see any confusion in the use of those apostrophes?

But anyway, you have already had the attention of a couple of authorities.

Anonymous · Answer

This one's for us

Apostrophe (One vs One's)

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