For possessives in titles, grammar determines apostrophe placement, while your chosen title case determines capitalization. Capitalize a possessive noun or contraction as a complete word, not letter by letter. Write Writer's, Children's, and Don't, with lowercase letters after the apostrophe.
These are separate decisions, so capitalization shouldn't change ownership or a word's meaning. Start with the grammatical form, then apply the chosen style consistently.
How Possessives in Titles Take Capitals
Capitalize the noun, not its ending
A possessive noun keeps the capitalization its base word would receive. Nouns are major words in title case, so Writer's Guide, Teachers' Resources, and Children's Books all begin with capitals. Children's uses the irregular plural children.
The ending isn't a separate word. Write A Writer's Guide, not A Writer'S Guide. Similarly, Teachers' Resources needs no added letter after the apostrophe because teachers is already plural.
Proper names also retain their usual capitals. In Shakespeare's Sonnets, the apostrophe doesn't affect the capitalization of Shakespeare.
This principle works anywhere in a title, not only at the beginning.
Capitalize Your, Its, Ours, and Theirs
Possessive words take capitals in title case: Walking Your Dog, A Country and Its History, and What Is Ours.
Strictly speaking, your before a noun is a possessive determiner. Ours is a possessive pronoun, and theirs works the same way.
Short words aren't automatically lowercase. Its takes a capital because of its grammatical role, just as Is does because it's a verb. APA's title case guidelines distinguish major words from minor words rather than treating every short word alike.
Choose a Title-Case Style Before Editing
The shortcut "lowercase conjunctions and prepositions" misses articles and other exceptions. For title capitalization, capitalize the first word, then follow your style guide's rules for the rest.
In title case, a, an, and the normally stay lowercase. Short prepositions such as in, at, and to also usually stay lowercase. However, conjunctions don't all follow one rule.
The four major systems differ most around these smaller words.
| Style | Mid-title "with" | Mid-title "around" | Typical context |
|---|---|---|---|
| AP | With | Around | Journalism and composition titles |
| APA | With | Around | Social sciences and academic headings |
| Chicago, 18th edition | with | Around | Books and publishing |
| MLA | with | around | Humanities and literary studies |
APA capitalizes words of four letters or more. AP also capitalizes prepositions of four letters or more in composition titles.
Chicago's edition matters. The 18th edition capitalizes prepositions of five letters or more; older editions generally lowercased prepositions regardless of length. MLA continues to lowercase prepositions regardless of length, subject to positional exceptions.
Chicago's guidance on title capitalization addresses differences between systems. Our comparison of title case styles also helps you choose a consistent format.
These differences don't change a possessive such as Your, Writer's, or Don't. They change surrounding words.
Form Singular and Plural Possessives Correctly
Singular nouns usually take 's
Add 's to a singular noun: the student's laptop, the house's windows, and a week's work. This creates a singular possessive.
In title case, capitalize those as The Student's Laptop, The House's Windows, and A Week's Work. The possessive form keeps the same ending because capitalization doesn't change the noun's number.
A possessive can express time or association as well as ownership. A week doesn't literally own work, but A Week's Work still takes a mark.
Don't use The Students' Laptop if you mean one student. That ending indicates multiple students.
Plural nouns depend on their ending
For a plural noun ending in s, add only an apostrophe: the girls' excitement and the Joneses' dog. In title case, write The Girls' Excitement and The Joneses' Dog.
An irregular plural that doesn't end in s takes 's. That's why Women's Health and Children's Literature use an apostrophe before the s.
Simple plurals need no apostrophe. Write 1960s, NGOs, and sisters-in-law when you're only describing more than one.
Compare Teachers Explain Their Methods with Teachers' Methods Explained. The first uses a plural subject; the second uses a plural possessive to show separate possession. Their capital letters match, but their grammar doesn't.
Handle Names Ending in S and Titles Within Names
James's and James' depend on style
Chicago and APA generally add 's to singular names ending in s: James's, Davis's, and Descartes's. AP generally uses an apostrophe alone: James' and Davis'.
EF's grammar guidance accepts both forms and describes 's as more common. The University of Sussex's apostrophe guide allows the apostrophe alone when an extra s isn't pronounced, as in Socrates' philosophy.
Choose the rule required by your publication rather than switching according to how each name looks.
Also distinguish one person from a plural surname. Davis's means something belongs to one person named Davis. Davises means multiple people with that surname; Davises' is the plural possessive.
James is the name alone. James's is a possessive form, not a correction to the name.
Put the possessive ending after the full name
An honorific or identifying title can be an integral part of a name. The possessive ending belongs at the end of that complete designation:
- Alexander the Great's Horse
- Catherine of Aragon's Husband
In ordinary prose, the same constructions are Alexander the Great's horse and Catherine of Aragon's husband. Title case tells you which words to capitalize, not where to place the ending.
Mary Queen of Scots' Birthplace uses the traditional form without an added s. A style treating the full designation as singular can use Mary Queen of Scots's Birthplace. In either spelling, the ending attaches to the full name Mary Queen of Scots.
When either version distracts, write The Birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. Rewording removes the disputed ending without changing the meaning.
Capitalize Contractions as Complete Words
Don't capitalize letters after the apostrophe
A contraction combines words and uses an apostrophe to mark omitted letters. In title case, give its first letter a capital, not each fragment within the contraction.
These examples show the difference.
| Correct title case | Incorrect capitalization |
|---|---|
| Don't Stop Reading | Don'T Stop Reading |
| Why It's Important | Why It'S Important |
| You're Ready to Write | You'Re Ready to Write |
| What We've Learned | What We'Ve Learned |
The apostrophe doesn't create a new word boundary. Therefore, We're, Can't, She's, and Who's receive ordinary initial capitals.
The pronoun I remains uppercase in contractions such as I'm, I've, and I'll, as it does outside titles.
Title case doesn't fix a malformed form. Dont still needs its mark before it becomes Don't.
Separate contractions from possessive words
The possessive its expresses ownership. It's means it is or it has. Likewise, who's means who is or who has, while whose expresses possession.
Use A Company and Its Customers, but Why It's Time for Change. Write Whose Book Is This? when asking about ownership, and Who's Reading This Book? when asking who is reading.
Possessive its, whose, ours, and theirs never take one. Forms such as Our's and Their's remain wrong even when their capitalization looks polished.
If it is or who is fits, choose the contracted form; for ownership, use the possessive form.
Distinguish Shared Ownership and Compound Nouns
For joint possession, add the possessive ending only to the final name: Anne, Hannah, and Tim's New Cat. This is joint possession because they share one cat.
For separate possession, make each name possessive: Both Chelsea's and Emily's Lunchboxes. This shows separate possession, with the lunchboxes belonging individually to Chelsea and Emily.
Capitalization doesn't change either construction. Capitalize each name and major noun as usual.
Compound nouns need attention too. The plural sisters-in-law has no apostrophe, but its ownership form is sisters-in-law's. In a title, write My Sisters-in-Law's Advice.
Here, add the ending after the complete compound, while in stays lowercase within it. Our hyphenated-word capitalization rules cover the separate decisions about which compound elements receive capitals.
Preserve Published Titles and Brand Names
A possessive credit isn't automatically the title
A name such as Jim Henson's or Disney's may appear above a movie title on a poster. That placement alone doesn't show whether the name is part of the official title; it may be a creator or studio credit.
Use the title recorded for the work in the citation or publication record you're following. Don't automatically include promotional wording just because it appears nearby.
Brand names create another problem. Avoid piling endings onto Denny's as Denny's's. Write The Pancakes at Denny's instead.
Preserve the established spelling and capitalization. Our guide to brand names in titles explains how brand spellings work in title case.
Keep Added Endings Outside Italics
When a work's title takes an ending, italicize the title but leave the added apostrophe and s in roman type: Charlotte's Web's ending.
The mark inside Charlotte's belongs to the published title, so it remains italicized. The ending after Web belongs to your sentence.
If the result looks awkward, reword it: The Ending of Charlotte's Web. That keeps the title intact and avoids an extra ending.
Names of people aren't normally italicized just because they take an ending. Shakespeare's Plays needs ordinary capitalization and an apostrophe, not italics around Shakespeare.
Key Takeaways: Check Your House Style
A publication's house style can override its general reference guide. AP is common in journalism, but AP composition-title conventions don't require every newsroom headline to use title case.
Before finalizing title capitalization, use this checklist:
- Identify whether the document requires title case or sentence case.
- Find the style guide's entries for capitalization and possessive forms, including its policy for names ending in s.
- Note the required edition and any local exceptions.
- Check punctuation marks before you capitalize the title.
- Review contractions, brand spellings, and italicized titles separately.
For academic work, context matters too. UNC Charlotte's title-formatting guidance distinguishes title case from sentence case. APA reference entries for books and articles generally use sentence case, even when the same titles receive a different treatment elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you capitalize possessives in a title?
Capitalize the possessive noun as your title-case style requires, and keep the letters after the apostrophe lowercase. Write Writer's Guide, not Writer'S Guide.
Should a singular name ending in s take 's or just an apostrophe?
It depends on the style guide. Chicago and APA generally use James's, while AP generally uses James'.
How can you tell its from it's?
Its shows possession, while it's means it is or it has. Use A Company and Its Customers for possession and Why It's Time for Change for a contraction.
Do possessive pronouns take apostrophes?
No. Its, whose, ours, and theirs don't take apostrophes; forms such as Our's and Their's are incorrect.
Keep Apostrophes and Capitals Separate
Possessives in titles follow two separate rules: grammar determines the apostrophe, while your chosen style determines capitalization. A possessive ending doesn't need an uppercase s, and a contraction remains one word.
Use one consistent house style, preserve names and published titles, and reword awkward possessives when needed. This keeps titles readable without changing their meaning.