Apostrophization decision procedure

A decision procedure for inflecting possessive words

To use this algorithm you must know the difference between contraction, plural and possessive.

If you are dealing with a contraction then you're on your own. All I can say is there'll have to be at least one apostrophe somewhere.

OK, here we go...if you don't understand any of the terminology then check the definitions at the bottom of the page

Form your sentence, and identify the problematic word, e.g., If you are unsure of the apostrophization in "The cats' tails.", then "cats" is the problematic word.

Is the problematic word singular or plural?	singular →	Is it possessive?	yes →	Is it a possessive determiner?	yes →	Append nothing
plural ↓		no ↓		no ↓
↓		Append nothing		Is it an archaic or mythological name ending in "s"?	yes →	Append '
↓				no ↓
↓				Append 's
↓
Is it possessive?	yes →	Does plural end in "s"?	yes →	Append '
no ↓		no ↓
↓		Is it a possessive adjective?	yes →	Append nothing
↓		no ↓
↓		Append 's
↓
Literal or symbolic string?	literal →	Append 's
symbolic ↓
Append nothing

Definitions

Contraction: a word with one or more letters removed and replaced by an apostrophe, e.g., cannot -> can't

Singular: exactly one of something, e.g. One cat. One dog.

Plural: more than one of something, e.g. Five cats. Forty-seven dogs.

Possessive: indicating ownership: e.g. The cat's tail. The dog's bone.

Possesive determiner (also called a possessive adjective): my, your, his, her, its, our, your (pl.), their

Archaic or mythological name: the proper name of some ancient personage, e.g., Moses, Jesus, Achilles.

Literal vs. symbolic string: a series of alphanumeric characters that are interpreted literally, as opposed to symbolically (a word), e.g. "r$ie843" can probably only be interpreted as a literal string, as can "aaaiiio334". However "cat" can be interpreted either as the literal string, i.e., "c" followed by an "a" followed by a "t", or as a word for a small domestic animal.