Possessives

In general, to form a possessive, follow these guidelines.

For singular nouns, including those that end in s, add 's to the end of the word.

Recommended: Modify each vector's record.

Recommended: Raise the storage class's quota.

For plural nouns that end in s, add only an apostrophe to the end of the word.

Recommended: Extend the models' capabilities.

Not recommended: Extend the models's capabilities.

For plural nouns that don't end in s, add 's to the end of the word.

If a possessive seems awkward, rewrite the sentence to omit the possessive.

Recommended: Analyze the business data.

Not recommended: Analyze the businesses' data.

Recommended: The rule that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued.

Not recommended: The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) rule.

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.

For more information, see Grammatical treatment of code elements.