Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Thank you a ton for posting this! I've been doing this for most/all of my life and it didn't really make sense till now. I've had people explain it before but it didn't really make sense. Here's what I got from what you wrote (please correct me if this is wrong / kinda off in some way)

For most words, the possessive form is "<word>'s"

For pronouns (including it) there are different rules. He becomes his, she goes to hers, it goes to its.

Also, words that already end in s don't get the " 's " treatment.

(Question - for words that end in "s", we put the apostrophe after the existing, ending 's', yes?)

Thanks again for posting this - viewing the possessive form of it as (yet another English language) exception to the normal rule of " 's " is really helpful.



Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: