Possessive Pronouns

Introduction to the forum software and its feature. You can use this for test postings. This is not a boating forum
jimh
Posts: 11659
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
Contact:

Possessive Pronouns

Postby jimh » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:01 am

The apostrophe character is used to indicate possessive form. For example, to turn a noun into the possessive form, an apostrophe and an s is added. Example:

Noun --> Possessive Noun
Jim ---> Jim's
Morwenna --> Morwenna's
Apple --> Apple's

The apostrophe is not used with possessive pronouns. Here are some examples:

Me --> Mine
Him --> His
Her --> Hers
You --> Yours
They --> Theirs
Our --> Ours
It --> Its

Many people are confused about this, particularly with the pronoun "it". The possessive form of "it" is "its" with no apostrophe.

The apostrophe is used in contractions to indicate the omission of some letters. Thus when we combine it and is in the contraction it's we use the apostrophe to mark the missing letter.

When writing "it's" be sure you are using that spelling as a contraction, not as a possessive pronoun. For example:

Correct = It's up to us to get this correct. (It is up to us to get this correct.)
Correct = The low weight of the E-TEC is its most attractive feature (The low weight of the E-TEC is the E-TEC's most attractive feature.)

Incorrect = Its up to us to get this correct
Incorrect = The low weight of the E-TEC is it's most attractive feature.