My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

Yours, mine and ours
Rule: the personal pronouns yours , theirs , its , his , hers and ours  never  need
an apostrophe.
The boys’ burgers, but the burgers are theirs .
The girl’s rice cakes but the rice cakes are hers .
The  only  possessive  personal  pronoun  that  needs  an  apostrophe  is  one’s  .
However, be careful when using it. One’s well could mean either one is well  or
the well that one owns – though with a bit of luck the context will help you work
out which!
Smart Alec: We also use an apostrophe in possessive indefinite pronouns: Is
that someone’s idea of a joke? That’s anyone’s guess.
What happens when two people own something?
Rule:  an  apostrophe  is  placed  after  the  second  name  when  the  possession
belongs to two people who are mentioned in the same sentence: Jane and Peter’s
dog , not Jane’s and Peter’s dog .
That one is easy because you only have to add ’s . If, however, you – yes, you –
co-owned Jane’s dog, you would have to say Jane’s  and  my  dog  ,  because  you
can’t say Jane and my’s nor, God forbid, Jane and I’s .
Smart Alec: Achilles heel is the Achilles heel here. Neither Achilles heel nor
Achilles tendon has an apostrophe.

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And finally…
Useful mnemonics for remembering the difference between a plural form and a
singular form in need of a possessive apostrophe.
Good girls are Christians
Bad girls are Christian’s
Rose’s are red
Violet’s are blue
Which colour knickers
Belongs to these two?
Got that? Oh good. Because we’re exhausted.

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5.
ODDS AND SODS (OR, ELEMENTS
OF STYLE)

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