what is the difference between 's and s' ?

Question

what is the difference between s , 's and s' ?

Answer 1

If the word ends with and "s", you use the s'. For example, if something belonged to James, it would be James'.
John would be John's.

Answer 2

The apostrophe marks possession. If the word is a plural, the apostrophe is placed after the "s" marking the plural with no further modification.

If the word is singular, 's is used to mark possession.

There is some confusion when a singular word or name ends in s or z. Apart from a few special cases, 's is correct.
James's book
Reverend Septimus's surplice.
The 's is both written and sounded.

There are a few names which do not take 's because of tradition. Three of these are
Jesus' disciples
Moses' staff
Achilles' heel

There are a few more but you will recognise them when you see them. For the most part, however, 's is correct after singular names and words ending in "s".

Answer 3

They're both modifers that show posession, but their use is dictated by the word they're modifying. Much like how you use "an" instead of "a" when referring to something that starts with a noun, you use the " 's" as possession unless the word itself ends with an s.

"This is Tom Jones' piano."

This keeps the sentence clean and it looks less awkward than "Tom Jones's"

Answer 4

's is for one, like one person, such as Sammy's. s' is for a group, like several people, like the Smiths'. s' can also be used on a word or name ending in s, so that it isn't confusing or sound funny. Like, Adams'. Adams's would sound funny. Hope that helps.

Answer 5

The first 's is belonging to that person.
e.g. This is Tom's book

The next is if the name end is s
e.g This is Gomes' book.