Oh, that pesky apostrophe! An apostrophe where it SHOULDN'T be, or a MISSING apostrophe, are two of the most common grammatical errors around. And with just this brief discussion on the proper use/nonuse of apostrophes, I hope this can be cleared up, and I can go back to my comfortable bottle!
There are three areas of writing where we use an apostrophe and/or put an “S” on the end of a word. Those three areas are:
1.
plurals (like “many horses”)
2.
contractions (where you take a noun and a verb like “he is” and shorten it to “he’s”)
3.
possessives (like “Ed’s plant”)
And it’s very common for people to make mistakes with these three things!
I think the easiest way to remember the correct usage of apostrophes/final-S in these areas is this:
Contractions ALWAYS have apostrophes.
Plurals NEVER have apostrophes.
Possessives SOMETIMES have apostrophes.
Just remembering this will help prevent most of the errors that happen.
So to take it from easiest to hardest –
1. PLURALS: This mistake isn’t too common, but is common enough where I wanted to mention it. In fact, my kids' vice-principal makes it all the time!
Wrong: The
horse’s ran away from the cowboy.
Right: The
horses ran away from the cowboy.
SO – there is NEVER an apostrophe on a plural (a plural by itself, that is - a
possessive plural will be covered under the section on possessives). Nevernevernever is there an apostrophe with a plural
2. CONTRACTIONS: This error is much more common, but if you remember that contractions ALWAYS have apostrophes, it should fix things right up. This section will cover the most common error - mixing up "its" and "it's".
Wrong :
Hes very nice.
Right :
He's very nice.
(This is a classic, simple contraction, and we hardly ever see any problems with it.)
Wrong:
Its hard to remember this!
Right:
It’s hard to remember this!
(Here is a very common error - remember, if you're not sure, just ask yourself if you're trying to say "it is" - if you are, then you NEED that apostrophe! And in this sentence, you are trying to say "it is" - you're saying "IT IS hard to remember this" - so you need that apostrophe!)
Wrong:
Your really cute!
Right:
You're really cute!
(Here's another common error - remember, ask yourself - am I trying to say "you are"? Yes, you are, so you need that apostrophe!)
So remember that when there’s a contraction (the shortening of a noun and verb, like “she is” to “she's”) there MUST be an apostrophe in it. Think of the apostrophe as a signal that you took out some letters when you shortened it up.
3. POSSESSIVES: This is the trickiest one, but it’s really pretty simple if you remember the other two rules. Possessives show possession of something – that something BELONGS to something else (they possess it). Possessives have an apostrophe UNLESS there is a contraction that is spelled similarly. And this usually takes place in the case of pronouns (those little words like “it” and “he” that stand in for proper nouns like “Manhattan” and “Sylvia”).
Here's the basic, simple possessive with an apostrophe:
Wrong :
Jims horse neighed at me.
Right :
Jim's horse neighed at me.
(Most of us have no trouble with the possessive of a proper noun like "Jim", so that's not an issue, but I just showed it as an example of a possessive.)
Wrong:
It's large nose made me laugh.
Right:
Its large nose made me laugh.
(Like the section above, ask yourself if you're trying to say "it is" - are you trying to say "It is large nose ..."? No, you aren't - you're trying to say "The nose that belonged to ...", so it's a possessive that has a similar-looking contraction, so do NOT use the apostrophe.)
Wrong : Is that
your’s?
Right: Is that
yours?
(Here's a common mistake - remember to ask yourself if you're trying to say "you are" - you are NOT, so it's a possessive with a similar-looking contraction, so do NOT use an apostrophe. And btw, I don't think "your's" even exists as a word!)
Wrong:
It’s name is Fred.
Right:
Its name is Fred.
(You know what to ask yourself now - are you saying "It is name is Fred"? No, so NO apostrophe!)
Wrong:
They're funny jokes had me in stiches.
Right:
Their funny jokes had me in stiches.
(Again, are you saying "They are funny jokes..."? No, so no apostrophe - use the possessive form, which is "their".)
Examples of a possessive WITH an apostrophe:
Dave's fish, Wanda's elephant, the president's speech, the research paper's conclusion, that plant's leaf, etc. etc.
And finally, a brief bit on plural possessives - the apostrophe goes AFTER the final "S" that makes the plural. If you're not sure, then turn the sentence around and see where the plural S falls, then put the apostrophe after it.
Example:
Singular : The
horse's pasture needs watering (The pasture OF THE HORSE needs watering).
Plural : The
horses' pasture needed watering. (The pasture OF THE HORSES needs watering).
And the final quirky thing - possessives of words ending in S - as in Julius's pen or Julius' pen - well, I'll save that for another time, as this is long enough! But quickly, it's a matter of taste - usually both methods are acceptable.
So basically possessives only have an apostrophe if it’s off of a noun (like Boston or Dave or the quarterback or the plant) and do NOT have one for pronouns (its, yours, theirs).
SUMMARY:
If you’re not sure about an apostrophe, just try remembering the first two rules first and see if that solves your problem. If not, try the next level of "is this a contraction?" and that should solve the vast majority of problems.
Good luck and good writing! And if anyone has any suggestions or helpful hints that helped them in this area, PLEASE share them with us
(And the GrammarGenie is crossing his/her genie-ish fingers, hoping he/she didn't make any grammatical errors!
)
...that's got to be the funniest apostrophe I've ever seen!!
