Let’s look at all those “mysteries”
Of where to put apostrophes.
Quite simple really, won’t take long
(Though native speakers get this wrong).
Two places matter: first, you use
Them where the question would be “whose?”
The mark and “s” together slip
Behind the word, show ownership.
“Whose car is that? It must be Jill’s!”
The second place is where it fills
A gap where letters have been chopped
(“They are” to “they’re; an “a” is dropped).
There really are a lot of these
“You’ll” and “doesn’t”; “can’t” and “he’s”.
Though native speakers get confused,
For plurals they are NEVER used.
“One leg; two leg’s” just isn’t right!
So now you know it all? Not quite…
Two special cases cause distress
The pronoun “it” and words with “s”.
“It is” shrinks normally to “it’s”
But (I’m sure you’re thrilled to bits)
What it possesses gets no mark
The dog, its eyes, its fleas, its bark.
Indeed (I’m risking that it bores),
It’s true of “hers” and “ours” and “yours”.
For nouns where “s” is at the end
(With plurals this will be the trend)
We place the mark as last in line
“The cats’ nine lives” (they all had nine).
It’s true there can be fun and games
When “s” is part of people’s names.
In these rare cases, take a look
In one or other grammar book.
They won’t agree - but, hey, that’s life
(In grammar, too, there’s sometimes strife)
The basic rules apply - so please!
Let’s see the right apostrophes.
