When do I need to add apostrophe 's ??

Question

I remember, but not very clearly that when we want to express that an object (noun) belongs to another object or person / organisation something I forgot, sometimes we don't need to add apostrophe s between the "owner" and the "object". Is it true? I know that we have to say this is Peter's book, these are Charles' book (s is skipped), but is there

any exception such that we don't need to add either ' or s between the owner and the object?

Thank you!

KrisBlueNZ · Accepted Answer

Yes. The possessive form of IT is ITS, not IT'S.

IT'S should only be used as an abbreviation of IT IS (or IT HAS, IT WAS, etc), never for the possessive.

This rule is one of the special cases for possessives of pronouns.

Possessive of HE or HIM = HIS (not him's - there's no such word)

Possessive of SHE or HER = HERS (not her's - there's no such word, although it's arguably logical)

Possessive of THEM or THEY = THEIR

Possessive of IT = ITS (no apostrophe).

The possessive form isn't just used where a thing "belongs to" or "is owned by" someone or something; it indicates an "of" relationship. For example, the BOOK'S AUTHOR.

Also for "Charles' book" I would write and say "Charles's book". This produces a "ziz" sound - "Charl-ziz" - which sounds acceptable to me. Another example, "Jesus's words", ends with a "ziziz" sound, which some may object to, but I find it acceptable as well.

When do I need to add apostrophe 's ??

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