[b.] To form the possessive of a noun, singular or plural, that does not end in s, add 's.
- Right: A hunter's gun, children's games, the cannon's mouth.
[c.] To form the possessive of a noun, singular or plural, that ends in s, place an apostrophe after (not before) the s if there is no new syllable in pronunciation. If there is a new syllable in pronunciation, add 's.
- Wrong: Moses's mandates, Keat's poems, Dicken's novels, those hunter's guns.
- Right: Moses' mandates, Keats's poems (or Keats' poems), Dickens' (or Dickens's) novels, those hunters' guns.
[d.] Do not use an apostrophe with the possessive adjectives its, his, hers, ours, yours, and theirs. But one's, other's, either's take the apostrophe.
[e.] Add 's to form the plural of letters of the alphabet, of words spoken of as words, and sometimes numbers. But do not form the regular plural of a word by adding 's (See [77]).
- Right: His B's, 8's (or 8s), and it's look much alike.
- Wrong: The Jones's, the Smith's, and the Brown's.
- Right: The Joneses, the Smiths, and the Browns.
Exercise:
- We don't know theyr'e dishonest.
- The soldier's heads showed above the trenches.
- Five 8es, three 7es, and two 12es make 85.
- Pierce told the Keslers that Jones hogs were fatter than their's.
- Its three oclock by his watch; five minutes past three by her's.