Possessive Nouns

In order to indicate possession, it is necessary to use an apostrophe and an -s, i.e. -‘s. In English, the apostrophe is used for either indicating possession or a contraction. Thus if one wants to indicate possession of a noun, adding an -’s is all that is required.

The cat’s ball of yarn.

The astronaut’s footprint on the moon.

Albert Einstein’s house.

Exceptions

The only exception to this rule is the word “it”, which may be used as a noun or a pronoun. Due to the use of the apostrophe as a means of indicating a contraction, “it’s” is reserved for the contraction of “it is”. Therefore, when indicating the possession of “it”, the apostrophe is omitted:

Its smell is sweet.

The dog is chewing its toy.