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Possessives

Even though it often seems that there are no rules for showing possession, there are. Chicago documentation style gives 11 general rules for showing possession. Our casual writing style today often ignores these conventions, but academic discourse requires accuracy. In other words, get it right!


To form a singular possessive: (one person "owning" something)

• Add an apostrophe s ('s) to the end of the singular noun
                 Joseph's coat of many colors
  
• Exception! To form the possessive of Jesus (Moses too) just add an apostrophe (')
                         Jesus'      Moses'
  

To form a plural possessive: (two or more people "owning" something) add just an apostrophe (') to the end of the plural noun.

Example:
the children's ball (several children own the ball) some foreign cars' mufflers (several cars having mufflers)

To indicate joint possession: Add an apostrophe s ('s) to the second noun if both "own" the noun.

Example:
Joseph was Rachel and Jacob's child.

Example: Joseph was Rachel's second and Jacob's eleventh child.

Do you know which one of these is the possessive of it?
It's or is it is

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