Looking at Apostrophes and Abbreviations SHOWING POSSESSION Making singular nouns possessive The princess’s bridal gown was made by a well-known couturier. The thief stole the duchess’s jewels. If the singular noun already ends in an ‘s’, another ‘s’ should still be added: Karen’s handbag was stolen. Her neighbour’s fence was blown down. The child’s ball bounced over the wall. If a noun is singular and it has something belonging to it, add an apostrophe and an ‘s’. For singular words that show possession the apostrophe is always placed before the ‘s’ which has been added: Apostrophes are put at the end of nouns when the nouns have something belonging to them. 6 68