11. the " 's. " Other examples include "China's
foreign policy" and "the orchestra's
conductor.“
Don't use an apostrophe to
indicate ownership when using "it".
"China's foreign policy" is correct, but say
your reader already knows you're talking
about China, and you start referring to the
country as "it." If you were to reference
something China owned in this way, you'd
say "its foreign policy."
12. Use apostrophes to indicate ownership
by a plural noun. One common trip-up on
apostrophe usage for a plural group occurs
when people want to discuss what a family
owns. For instance, say the Smart family lives
across the street from you and owns a boat.
The boat is "the Smarts' boat," not "the Smart's
boat." Because you are talking about all of the
members of the Smart family, you would start
with "Smarts."
13. Because all the Smarts
(presumably) own the boat,
you add the apostrophe after
the "s."
