217 Where to put apostrophes in possessive forms: Pronouns
Description
This article is from the alt.usage.english FAQ, by Mark Israel misrael@scripps.edu with numerous contributions by others.
217 Where to put apostrophes in possessive forms: Pronouns
by Peter Moylan
The ONLY personal possessive pronoun with an apostrophe is "one's".
.----------------------------------------------------------------------. | The words "his", "its", "whose", "their" do NOT contain apostrophes. | | Nor do words like "hers", "ours", "yours", "theirs". | | (Would you say "mi'ne"?) | '----------------------------------------------------------------------'
The forms "it's", "they're", and "who's" are contractions for "it
is" (or "it has"), "they are", and "who is" (or "who has")
respectively. They have nothing to do with possessive pronouns.
The apostrophe does occur in the possessive case of indefinite
pronouns ("anybody's", "someone's", and so on).
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