Apostrophe Usage

This e-book may be distributed freely provided it isn’t altered in any way. Apostrophe usage Apostrophes are used to: Indicate possession (girl’s bag) Show letters have been omitted in contracted words (can’t, it’s) Avoid confusion (A’s are the highest marks) They have nothing to do with the plural – FAQs, not FAQ’s, bananas not banana’s. The apostrophe However, apostrophe usage is not straightforward because writers do not was agree about all apostrophe usages, particularly in relation to time, space and introduced quantity (two weeks holiday or two weeks’ holiday). into English in the 16th Possessive apostrophes century in We use an apostrophe to indicate ‘belonging to’ or ‘of’. imitation of French the boy’s game – the game belonging to the boy practice. the choir’s plans – the plans of the choir With regular plurals that end in s, the apostrophe comes after the s when the word is possessive. employees’ salaries managers’ new computers With irregular plurals that don’t end in s, the apostrophe comes after the plural and you add an extra s. The apostrophe comes before the s. children’s toys gentlemen’s agreement With words that are the same in the singular and plural, the apostrophe comes after the word so you may wish to rewrite such sentences to avoid confusion. deer’s antlers the antlers from these three deer sheep’s wool all the sheep’s wool Joint or separate possession If two people own something, you need an apostrophe only on the second word. my mother and father’s car John and Margaret’s cars © Mary Morel 2012 | www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au | [email protected] 1 If the ownership is separate, use an apostrophe for each name. my mother’s and father’s cars John’s and Margaret’s cars Not everyone agrees that joint possession only needs one apostrophe so sometimes it is easier to rephrase the statement. my parents’ car instead of my mother and father’s car cars belonging to John and Margaret instead of John and Margaret’s cars Possessive apostrophes with names ending in s ‘There was never a With names ending in s, you need to decide whether to add an extra s after the apostrophe. This is a style choice. Neither, in my opinion, is right or wrong golden age in and style guides do not agree. which the rules for the Frances’ book or Frances’s book use of the possessive There are a number of ‘rules’ around whether or not you add an extra s. The apostrophe Australian government Style Manual says: in English were clear- For personal names ending in s, the situation is problematic because of the cut and differing ‘rules’ that are variously invoked. One such rule involves the sound known, of the word: if the possessive inflection is pronounced as a separate understood, syllable, it takes an apostrophe s; if not, the apostrophe alone should be added. The problem is that different people pronounce such possessives and followed differently. Should it therefore be Burns’ or Burns’s? A competing rule has it by most that names consisting of one syllable always take an apostrophe s educated (Burns’s), whereas those of more than one syllable take only the people.’ apostrophe (Dickens’). Cutting across these practices is the notion that certain time-honoured names ending in s (particularly from biblical and Editor Tom McArthur, The classical sources) take only the apostrophe, whatever their length or Oxford pronunciation (Jesus’, Herodotus’). Companion to the English Given this confused situation, the most straightforward course of action is to Language add apostrophe s to any name ending in s, however long or short it is and however it is pronounced. Thus: Burns’s poems Dickens’s novels Herodotus’s birthplace. On the other hand, The Associated Press Guide to Punctuation (Perseus Press, 2003) recommends just adding the apostrophe. Dickens’ novels Burns’ poems © Mary Morel 2012 | www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au | [email protected] 2 Double possessive apostrophe Sometimes ‘of’ can be ambiguous and we need a double possessive – an of and an apostrophe. For example, a sentence such as This is Mary’s photo could be a photo of Mary or a photo taken by Mary. The double possessive in this instance would make it clear that Mary took the photo. This is a photo of Mary’s. Descriptive use of apostrophes Apostrophes are sometimes used descriptively, meaning ‘for’ rather than ‘belonging to’ or ‘of’. This apostrophe is often dropped these days, but whether or not to use an apostrophe causes debate, particularly for apostrophes with time, space and quantity. Season’s Greetings I think most of us would agree that we don’t need apostrophes with phrases (of) such as: girls school (school for girls) or widows pension (pension for widows) visitors book (book for visitors) Seasons Greetings Time, space and quantity (for) Not everyone agrees about the need for apostrophes for expressions of time, space and quantity. For example: one week’s time or one weeks time two weeks’ notice or two weeks notice four weeks’ holiday or four weeks holiday five dollars’ worth of goods or five dollars worth of goods Those who argue against the apostrophe do so on the grounds that these expressions are descriptive. You can avoid the apostrophe debate by re-wording the phrase. in a week (instead of one week’s time) four-week holiday (instead of four weeks’ holiday) You decide If in doubt about whether or not to use an apostrophe, ask yourself whether something is ‘of/belonging to’ or ‘for’. For example, is an artists conference a conference of artists or a conference for artists? © Mary Morel 2012 | www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au | [email protected] 3 If you think it is a conference for artists, you don’t need an apostrophe, but it would not be wrong to use one. This is a grey area and such apostrophes are sometimes called pseudo apostrophes. In New South Wales, the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) obviously had difficulty deciding where to put the apostrophe in drivers licence. Does the licence belong to you or is it a licence for driving? Driver’s licence (belonging to you) Drivers licence (licence for driving, i.e. descriptive) Drivers’ licence (licence for driving, but using an apostrophe for a descriptive usage) The RTA’s solution: driver licence. In Western Australia, it’s a driver’s licence, and in the European Union, a driving licence. I think younger writers tend to use fewer descriptive apostrophes and that might hasten their demise. However, the prescriptive grammarians will keep up the fight until the bitter end! In her best-selling book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss recorded her fury at the film Two Weeks Notice not having an apostrophe in its title ‘our long- suffering little Apostrophes in contractions friend’ We use apostrophes in informal writing to indicate: Lynne Truss, Contracted words Eats, Shoots & Leaves isn’t can’t shouldn’t Abbreviated words rock ’n’ roll cont’d Numbers left out of dates the ’90s the ’70s ’98 Apostrophes to avoid confusion Use apostrophes with single letters to avoid ambiguity, particularly in colloquial expressions. Mind your p’s and q’s. Dot the i’s and cross the t’s. © Mary Morel 2012 | www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au | [email protected] 4 Common apostrophe mistakes The most common mistakes with apostrophe usage are: Confusing its and it’s Its only has an apostrophe when it is short for it is or it has. Its does not need an apostrophe because it is already a possessive pronoun. Other possessive pronouns are my, your, her, his, our and their. It’s (It is) a wise dog that scratches its own fleas. It’s (It has) been a lovely day. Using apostrophes in plurals X Unique Santa Photo’s Unique Santa Photos X Both insurers’ provided quotes. Both insurers provided quotes. ‘Have we Putting apostrophes in the wrong place really nothing better to do children’s toys with our lives X childrens’ toys than fret about the Using apostrophes in plural abbreviations and dates that do not need apostrophe?’ apostrophes X CD’s Dr. John Wells, CDs emeritus professor of phonetics at University X 1990’s College, London 1990s Apostrophe usage changes over time Some apostrophes drop out over time in names and dates. In 2012, a national chain of bookshops in England caused controversy when it dropped the apostrophe out of its name, changing from Waterstone’s to Waterstones. The name originally had an apostrophe because it was founded by Tim Waterstone. John Richards, chairman of the Apostrophe Protection Society, was quoted as saying: ‘It’s just plain wrong’. Apostrophes in possessive dates, such as 1990s fashion (fashion belonging to the 1990s) have dropped out. © Mary Morel 2012 | www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au | [email protected] 5 Mary Morel Mary Morel is the author of four other e-books on grammar: Grammar Guide, Sentence Guide, Word Guide and Punctuation Guide available at www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au Visit www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au to sign up for her grammar e- newsletter or register for her online grammar programs, which include: An A–Z of Punctuation Grammar Glitches The Art of Writing Sentences Working with Words © Mary Morel 2012 | www.onlinewritingtraining.com.au | [email protected] 6 .

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