When two people share one thing, put the apostrophe on the last name only: Ana and Joe's book. When they own things separately, both names need one: Ana's and Joe's bikes.
Time phrases can take apostrophes: a week's holiday, two weeks' notice. Family names ending in s are pluralised before the apostrophe: the Joneses' garden.
Possessive pronouns never take apostrophes: its, hers, ours, theirs, yours. Don't confuse its (belonging) with it's (it is).
Worked example
Punctuate: “I need three days notice.”
- The notice is of three days: a time phrase.
- Days is plural ending in s, so add the apostrophe after the s.
Answer:I need three days' notice.
Key words
- shared possession
- one thing owned by two or more people
- possessive pronoun
- a pronoun showing ownership
- time phrase
- a phrase about a period of time
Practise this
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