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In general, to form a possessive of a singular noun or of a plural noun that doesn't end in
s, add 's to the end of the word. For a plural noun that ends in s, add an
apostrophe but no additional s.
Examples of correct possessives
alias's
Elise Williams's
the Williamses'
women's
Examples of incorrect possessives
aliases's
Elise Williams'
the Williams'
womens'
Product, feature, and company names
When describing function or performance, don't form a possessive from a
feature name, product name, or trademark, regardless of who owns it. Instead,
use the name as a modifier or rewrite to use a word like of to indicate
the relationship.
Recommended: You can use this template to
monitor Google Search performance.
Recommended: You can use this template to
monitor the performance of Google Search.
Not recommended: You can use this template to
monitor Google Search's performance.
To form the possessive of a company name, add 's to the end of the name. Don't form the
possessive of a company name when using it as a trademark.
Recommended: Google's new office is
nearby.
Not recommended: The capabilities of
Google's Search are vast.
For information about using trademarks as adjectives, not nouns, see
Trademarks.
Code items
Don't form the possessive of a code item. Instead, form the possessive from the noun that
follows the code item or rewrite to avoid the possessive form.
Recommended: Compare the number to the
wordCount method's return value.
Recommended: Compare the number to the
value returned by the wordCount method.
Not recommended: Compare the number to
wordCount's return value.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2024-10-15 UTC."],[[["To form possessives of most singular and plural nouns not ending in \"s\", add \"'s\", but for plural nouns ending in \"s\", add only an apostrophe."],["Avoid using possessives for product, feature, or company names when describing their function; instead, use them as modifiers or rephrase with \"of\"."],["When indicating possession with company names, add \"'s\" unless it's being used as a trademark, in which case, refer to trademark guidelines."],["For code items, avoid possessives by forming the possessive from the subsequent noun or rewriting the sentence to eliminate the possessive form."]]],["Singular nouns and plural nouns not ending in *s* form possessives with *'s*; plural nouns ending in *s* use only an apostrophe. Avoid possessives with product, feature, or trademark names, using them as modifiers instead. Company names take *'s* in possessives, but not when used as trademarks. Code items don't form possessives; use the following noun or rephrase.\n"]]
