The Online Scholar Institute

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark used to:

1. Show possession (ownership)
2. Indicate omission of letters (contractions)
3. Sometimes form plurals of letters or symbols (rare).

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Examples:

✅ Possession

• The cat’s tail (meaning the tail belonging to the cat)
• James’s book (for singular possession with names ending in “s,” either “James’s” or “James’” is acceptable, depending on the style guide you follow)

✅ Omission of letters (contractions)

• It’s raining today (it’s = it is)
• Don’t worry (don’t = do not)

✅ Plural of letters/symbols (rare)

• Mind your p’s and q’s.

So there you go. I hope all writers use this tip in their CXC prep/ CSEC prep.

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