by Debbie Burke
Apostrophes. That tiny punctuation mark seems to trip up more people than any other.
Here are a few examples of apostrophes that are misused:
So what are the correct uses of the apostrophe?
- In contractions: an apostrophe indicates a missing letter or letters.
Jean’s going to the store. = Jean is going to the store.
- To indicate possession: At the store, a shopping cart door-dinged Jean’s car.
When not to use an apostrophe:
- To indicate plurals. Shopping carts, not shopping cart’s.
- To indicate decades. The 1990s, not the 1990′s.
Decades can be written in various ways.
Example: Rock and roll gained popularity in the 1950s.
However, if the decade is possessive, it needs an apostrophe.
Example: The 1950’s song “That’ll Be the Day” hit number 1 on Billboard Magazine.
If you use a contraction to abbreviate a decade, that requires an apostrophe for the missing part of the year.
Example: In the ’20s, bobbed hair was the cat’s meow.
The dreaded question of ITS vs IT’S raises the most confusion.
That’s because ‘s usually indicates possession.
Examples: Gary’s book; the USA’s foreign policy.
Its is the annoying exception.
It’s is a contraction for “it is” or “it was.”
In the immortal words of Mr. Rogers: “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Its is the possessive form.
Example: AI doesn’t understand its own capability.
Plurals add another layer of confusion.
How often have you received a holiday card from “The Smith’s”?
“The Smith’s” is possessive.
It should be “The Smiths” plural to indicate the card came from multiple members of the Smith family.
Want to get even more confused? Names and nouns that end with an “S” are treated differently.
The plural of Jones is “Joneses.”
The plural of cross is “crosses.” Example: Many Civil War graves were marked with crosses.
The possessive of Jones can either be “the Jones’ house” or the Jones’s house” depending on the style guide used.
The possessive of crosses is generally crosses’. Example: The crosses’ wood had weathered and split.
Then there are plural initialisms. (I had to look that one up.)
They are initials that are used as nouns.
Examples: DMV, BMW, FAQ
The plurals are DMVs, BMWs, FAQs.
The possessive form needs an apostrophe.
Example: The DMV’s reputation for long wait times is well known.
However, if the initial is a single one, the plural needs an apostrophe.
Example: Sarah’s report card was all B’s.
The plural of the noun “I” can be shown with an apostrophe to keep it from being misread as “Is”.
Example: Too many I’s used in that paragraph is repetitive.
Yourdictionary.com offers a clear, concise explanation of how to avoid apostrophe abuse.
Pop Quiz
- When the tree starts to drop (its) (it’s) leaves, (it’s) (its) a sure sign of early fall.
- The (Gateses) (Gates’) (Gate’s) need to increase their income to keep up with the (Bezos’s) (Bezos’) (Bezoses).
- On (Saturday’s) (Saturdays) we always visit the (farmer’s) (farmers) market to check out the many different (vendor’s) (vendors’) fresh (veggie’s) (veggies).
- What’s your (Achille’s) (Achilles’) (Achilles’s) heel when it comes to grammar?
- (Phyllis’s) (Phyllis’) intention was to attend the (writer’s) (writers’) (writers) conference.
Answers:
- When the tree starts to drop its leaves, it’s a sure sign of fall.
- The Gateses need to increase their income to keep up with the Bezoses. Yeah, it sounds wonky to the ear but it’s correct.
- Saturdays is correct. Farmer’s is correct but could also be farmers’ market. Vendors’ is correct. Veggies is correct.
- Achilles’ and Achilles’s are both right. However, Achilles’ is less of a tongue twister and sounds better to the ear.
- Okay, this is a multiple-part trick question.
Phyllis’s or Phyllis’ are both right depending on the style sheet you’re using. Just be consistent—choose one form or the other and stick with it throughout the story, article, etc.
Writers’ conference is preferred because it’s possessive meaning multiple writers attend it. However, writer’s conference is also an adjective describing the type of conference. The Word grammar checker puts a squiggly blue line under writers conference, indicating questionable use. However, writers conference is common, making it accepted although not strictly correct.
I feel for non-native speakers trying to learn the inconsistent, convoluted, mystifying English language.
If we writers ever master all the nuances of grammar,“That’ll Be the Day” to celebrate!
~~~
TKZers: What’s your Achilles’ heel in grammar? Do you have any reminder tricks to suggest?
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Counting down to launch day for The Villain’s Journey-How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate.
James Scott Bell says: “Debbie Burke has filled a critical gap in writing craft instruction.”
Christopher Vogler says: “You will certainly find insight and inspiration to make your villains leap off the page and haunt your readers’ dreams.”
Preorder now and the ebook will be delivered to your device on July 13.
Huh. Well I confess that I evidently have committed apostrophe abuse for decades, because seeing 1990’s (see, I even typed it automatically with the apostrophe) without the apostrophe just doesn’t look right. I like it better with an apostrophe. Rules or no rules.
I’m just thankful we are able to have separate writing and revision processes. All the grammar/punctuation rules would be tedious to implement if we had to do it during creative flow.
Brenda, for years I wrote 1990’s until a magazine I wrote for said that didn’t conform to their style sheet. But to my eyes, 1990s still looks odd.
Definitely keep the creative flow going. The most perfect grammar and punctuation won’t rescue a dull story.
In a moment of synchronicity, my Substack post today addresses this same issue!
Great minds, Terry, right?
I can certainly use more than one refresher, Terry 🙂
Mine is lay/lie. I’ve resorted to looking it up each time. I never get it right.
Kelly, that’s a tough one, all right. I keep my trusty Strunk and White close by.
I did a blog post on lie/lay a long, long time ago, and Google says it’s the number one search for my site. Nobody cares about the books I write, I guess.
Thanks to all of my high school English teachers in the 1970s, I usually don’t have a problem with punctation, possessives, contractions, etc. They also taught me that we use a period between two sentences. They would be appalled at the new popular usage of a comma between two sentences. It drives me crazy.
Michelle, I credit Mrs. Shore, my eighth grade English teacher, with drilling grammar and punctuation into us. They don’t make teachers like that any more.
Its/It’s is one my nemeses, Debbie. These days mostly when I type too fast and don’t stop to check, but once upon a time it was quite confusing to younger Dale.
Dale, fast fingers trip me up all the time.
Its/it’s is the most common error I see with editing clients. One sure way to check is to read the sentence out loud saying “it is.” If that’s wrong, you know it should be “its”.
This one goes in my notebook of things I get wrong.
Hope it helps, Brian!
James Scott Bell says: “Debbie Burke has filled a critical gap in writing craft instruction.” The book–and this post!
Wow, Debbie! This concise information is gold…gotta copy and paste this one. Who needs a style sheet when I have you? Ha!
However, this one is just wrong IMHO: However, if the initial is a single one, the plural needs an apostrophe. Example: Sarah’s report card was all B’s.
I would have written “…card was all Bs”. (Got the squiggly red line with that, though.)
🙂
Have a great day!
Aw, thanks, Deb! I’m happy to be your style sheet.
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur. – Doug Larson
That’s hilarious, Jim!!! Thanks for the laugh. We can’t take grammar too seriously.
Like others, I credit my junior high and high school English teachers with grounding me in apostrophe usage. My problem is like Kelly’s–lie/lay so I usually reword the sentence so I don’t have to figure it out.
Great post and The Villain’s Journey is fantastic! Love the worksheets.
Thanks so much, Pat! Glad you enjoyed the ARC.
I have my workarounds, too, when I’m too lazy to look something up. Still can’t master the difference between “that” and “which.”
I’ve written here before that I include my own style sheet with my manuscripts when I submit them to my publisher. Their style sheet requires Phyllis’s for the possessive. Specifically for two characters, I forbid the enforcement of the rule. A frequent character in my Grave series is Boxers. Boxers’s reads like fingernails on the blackboard. I insist on Boxers’. Ditto the possessive for Irene Rivers.
Another trap where the correct answer just looks wrong is the placement of punctuation after quotation marks that are not dialogue. As an example, this is correct:
I really enjoyed Stephen King’s short story, “Apt Pupil”.
But that period outside of the quotation marks just don’t look right.
John, super cool that you make your own style sheet rather than knuckle under to the publisher. That’s what I call successful.
Names that end in “S” are a PITA. I try to avoid them, but sometimes a character names themselves and I have to go with their choice.
You are correct, sir. In American style, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, regardless of logic or whether they are part of the quoted material.
Did you mean irregardless? 😉
Fodder for a future topic, perhaps.
Great info, Debbie. I foolishly gave several characters names that ended in the letter s. Never again. It trips me up to write the possessive like “Robert Hodges’s meeting.”
Thanks, Kay. I learned the hard way, too. That’s why I had fun with Bezos and Gates. But billionaires don’t care how weird their names sound in possessive and plural forms.
But billionaires don’t care how weird their names sound in possessive and plural forms.
…as long as we’re all talking about them, that is!
🙂
Good refresher, Debbie. The words that trip me up are who/whom. I can usually sound out the correct form, but some slip by me. Thankfully, my editor catches them.
That’s a tough one, Sue. Since misuse is so common, our ears are used to it. “Whom do you trust?” just doesn’t have the same ring as “Who do you trust?”
This has zero relevance to today’s post, but I seem to recall “Who do you trust” was a line from an episode of Starsky & Hutch. I would have been very put out if they’d said it as “Whom do you trust” LOL!