Singular Possessive

To properly use singular possessive, place the apostrophe and the "s" directly following the singular word.

EXAMPLE:  The car's front tire is flat.

Please note, the exception is the pronoun "it." To make "it" possessive, do not use an apostrophe. "It's" is a contraction for "it is."

EXAMPLE:  The turtle went into its shell.

Plural Possessive

To properly use plural possessive, first make the word plural.  The apostrophe belongs on the right of the "s." 

EXAMPLE: The students' classroom was locked; therefore, they waited in the hall.

For exceptions to the plural rule (nouns that are made plural in ways other than by adding "s"), the apostrophe usually belongs to the left of the "s."

EXAMPLE: The children's classroom was locked; therefore, they waited in the hall.

The plural possessive pronoun would be "their."

Contractions

In a contraction, the apostrophe substitutes for missing letters.

EXAMPLE: don't (do not, the apostrophe stands for "o") o'er (over, the apostrophe stands for "v"). For years, (e.g., '06 - which could mean 1906 or 2006) the apostrophe takes the place of the millennium and century.

Quotations

An apostrophe is used as a single quotation mark when a quotation appears within a quotation. 

EXAMPLE: As John narrated, "My mother always said, 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.' But sometimes saying something that's not nice, if it's true, can motivate someone to change for the better."