Many bloggers I observed are having troubles where to put the ‘s in some possessive nouns. I thought perhaps they are just not confident or trying to be safe. But the problem is whatever position they want to be, their last refuge is believed not to be safe at all. What follows are common mistakes bloggers often commit and the right thing to do it:


Names ending in S

Wrong: Charles’ toys

Right: Charles’s toys

Wrong: Reeves’ movies

Right: Reeves's movies

Wrong: Santos' account

Right: Santos's account

Archaic proper names are exceptions such as Jesus and Moses

Wrong: Jesus’s

Right: Jesus’

Wrong: (Instead of saying) Moses’ laws

Right: (Say instead) the laws of Moses

The its and it’s

Wrong: He saw a dog wagging it’s own tail

Right: He saw a dog wagging its own tail

Wrong: Its useless to resist.

Right: It’s useless to resist.

Indefinite Pronouns

Wrong: ones’ liberty

Right: one’s liberty

Wrong: somebody elses’ car

Right: somebody else’s car

These are the partial examples that I can give you. Follow this blog for more writing tips and advices. I hope you learn something from this post.

Source: Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B White