Apostrophe Question

[Headtime]

Which is correct;

"John Smith's cat"

or "John Smiths cat"

Many Thanks!

[Marsh]

"John Smith's cat" is correct.

The reason is given in Section 2 of http://www.users.bigpond.com/J_fersOffice/sample.htm 

[jno]

Yes, the apostrophe shows ownership (except 'its', which confuses people... but it's is short for it is).

[Headtime]

Thank you both very much.

[THECORBYLOON]

I don't understand the confusion over "ITS" and "IT''S" None of  the personal possessive terms ends in "apostrophe S" "THEIRS" "YOURS" "OURS" HIS" "HERS" "ITS" "MINES"

Simple..... 

[jno]

MINES, well that's a real minefield TCL. Nonetheless, people who have been taught that the apostrophe denotes possession often, and understandably, suppose that this means it's too. The problem is that its and it's are both words - no such word as your's or their's, so less chance of confusion.

[acw]

While we're on grammar, the use of the semicolon in the question was incorrect and there was no "?" despite it being a question.  This latter error is not rare for the AB at all.  In fact many users think statements are also questions!  Sorry if I sound rude, but the question has already been aptly answered and I wanted to stick my 2d worth in anyway! :-p

PS - Where there is possession, but it is also plural, the apostrophe comes AFTER the s.  So if two sisters have a cat: the sisters' cat. 

[IndieSinger]

In addition to acw's post, don't forget the the possessive plural apostrophe comes before the penultimate S if the word has a "special" plural form (usually an intermediary vowel change) such as The children's beds (child => children) and The women's hats (woman => women).

[jno]

uh, IndieSinger, isn't that before the ultimate rather than penultimate S? penultimate = 2nd last, antepenultimate = 3rd last

[IndieSinger]

Yes.

[Peter Pedant]

......and there are irregular genitives in certain phrases like,

for conscience' sake......

[just trying to help]

[jno]

With advancing age we all have irregular genitives from time to time, PP. Especially when there are two S's involved. Mr Jones' house/Mr Jones's house? Conscience' sake/conscience's sake? I suspect how you write them depends on how you pronounce them when you're speaking.

TCL, just remembered a personal possessive pronoun with an apostrophe: one's.

Ah, this unpredictable language of ours.

[rojash]

jno: "One" is a personal pronoun, not a personal possesive pronoun, so it takes an apostrophe just in the same was as a noun (eg: Fred, Fred's; one, one's).

[Clare A]

While we're about it, how many people are irritated by the incorrect use of 'one'?I hear it constantly used as a synonym for 'me', whereas I was taught that it's an extended form of 'you', or 'the world in general'. I suspect that royalty have much to answer for in this! That or comedians' impersonations of them.

[Clare A]

Whoops - that post of mine looked a bit weird! What I meant to say was that while we're about it, what of the use of 'one'? Many people use it as a synonym for 'me' or 'I', whereas I was always taught that it meant 'you, me, or people in general'. I suspect that royalty has a lot to answer for in this matter - they or the people who do impressions of them!