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I know this following method is correct... "It's raining..." instead of... "It is raining." The apostrophe denotes a contraction and a missing letter from the sentence.

So which is correct here? "The house and its contents" or "The house and it's contents." Because one cannot say "The house and it is contents," as that would not be right. So in these kinds of instances surely a contraction is not needed and therefore no need for an apostrophe.

I hope you've all understood what I'm on about! Thanks!

2007-03-23 06:05:39 · 11 answers · asked by Lee 4 in Education & Reference Words & Wordplay

11 answers

The rules concerning the use of apostrophes in written English are very simple:

1. They are used to denote a missing letter or letters, for example:
I can't instead of I cannot
I don't instead of I do not
it's instead of it is

2. They are used to denote possession, for example:
the dog's bone
the company's logo
Jones's bakery (but Joneses' bakery if owned by more than one Jones)

... but please note that the possessive form of it does not take an apostrophe any more than ours, yours or hers do

the bone is in its mouth

... however, if there are two or more dogs, companies or Joneses in our example, the apostrophe comes after the 's':
the dogs' bones
the companies' logos
Joneses' bakeries

3. Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals! Common examples of such abuse (all seen in real life!) are:
Banana's for sale which of course should read Bananas for sale
Menu's printed to order which should read Menus printed to order
MOT's at this garage which should read MOTs at this garage
1000's of bargains here! which should read 1000s of bargains here!
New CD's just in! which should read New CDs just in!
Buy your Xmas tree's here! which should read Buy your Xmas trees here!

2007-03-23 06:15:32 · answer #1 · answered by the_lipsiot 7 · 1 0

An apostrophe is not used to denote ownership. In your case, the house is the owner and the contents are what is owned. The correct way is to say, "the house and its contents"

2007-03-23 06:13:50 · answer #2 · answered by ♂ ♫ Timberwolf 7 · 0 0

I believe you want to know more about conjunctions and not apostrophes. "The house and its contents" or "The house and it's contents." The correct version would be, "The house and its contents" Because its belongs to the house and it’s means it is. You use ‘s to belong to proper nouns such as Joe’s means it belongs to me or Chicago’s means it belongs to Chicago. If it ends with an s you put the apostrophe after it such as Bass’ pro shop.

2007-03-23 06:21:49 · answer #3 · answered by Joe 3 · 0 0

The house and its contents would be correct. Apostrophe's show possesion and therefore none is needed.

2007-03-23 06:13:45 · answer #4 · answered by Teia 5 · 0 0

yeah with the word "it" you only use an apostrophe for a contraction not to indicate possession

2007-03-23 06:11:12 · answer #5 · answered by liz 2 · 0 0

The apostrophe has not something to with the combining of words. It keeps the area of the letter(s) that could have(might've - ' = ha) been there if the words weren't joined jointly. whether that is not meant for use for all contractions. on your Jess' occasion that is puzzling as including an apostrophe after someones call exhibits possession the place the call ends with an s already. working example: you will say: "verify out Pete's hair." For Jess, you won't be able to upload yet another s so which you assert "look as Jess' hair." i wish i'm explaining this suitable, English isn't my first language

2016-10-19 10:42:47 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

"its" with no apostrophe is the correct way to show possession.
"it's" indicates the word is a contraction.

Usually you add an 's to show possession, but "its" is a word like "his" which by definition indicates possession.

2007-03-23 06:14:15 · answer #7 · answered by DazeyChain 3 · 0 0

You're right, Lee. "Its" (possessive) doesn't have a letter missing, so no apostrophe is required.

2007-03-25 11:34:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

"Its" is the possessive, its paw, its gable end etc. "It's" is the contraction of "it is". The best version of the Apostrophe is by Frank Zappa.

2007-03-23 06:12:02 · answer #9 · answered by Del Piero 10 7 · 0 0

The pronoun "it" does not take an apostrophe for possession.
So your sentence is correct.
You do not use an apostrophe for possession for any pronoun,
e.g. yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.
That book is yours.
That book is his.
That book is hers.
That book is ours.
That books is theirs.
.

2007-03-23 16:42:56 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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