Use Of The Apostrophe

Article contributed by Tim North

1. Using apostrophes to indicate possession

Let's start with a quick review of a few technical terms:

A NOUN is a word that stands for a person or thing. Examples include "dog", "Tim", "house" and "America".

SINGULAR NOUNS stand for a single person or thing; for example, "chair". PLURAL NOUNS stand for several people or things; for example, "chairs".

The most common use of an apostrophe is to indicate possession by a person or thing of some other person or thing. For example: "John's book" or "Europe's history".

Using an apostrophe to indicate possession is really quite straight forward, yet it's a frequent source of confusion. There are two separate cases to consider: singular nouns and plural nouns.

Singular nouns
When a noun is singular (i.e. it stands for a single person or thing) we show possession by adding apostrophe-s.

For example:

the girl's book

Japan's recovering economy

the princess's gown

Mauritius's beaches

the cat's whiskers

Summary: Singular nouns are made possessive by adding apostrophe-s.

Plural nouns
When a noun is plural (i.e. it stands for a several people or things) we show possession by adding s-apostrophe.

For example:

the CEOs' perks   (the perks of two or more CEOs)

the players' pride   (the pride of two or more players)

the programmers' books   (the books belonging to two or more programmers)

the boys' games   (the games belonging to two or more boys)

Summary: Plural nouns are made possessive by adding s-apostrophe.

An exception
As with many rules, there is an exception. This one concerns nouns that form their plural without adding an s. For example: woman/women, person/people and child/children.

Words that change spelling like this take apostrophe-s in both their singular and plural forms. They never use s-apostrophe.

For example:

the woman's idea   (the idea belonging to one woman)

the women's idea   (the idea belonging to two or more women)

the child's gift   (the gift belonging to one child)

the children's gift   (the gift belonging to two or more children)

Summary: Nouns that become plural by changing their spelling (e.g. woman/women) are made possessive by adding apostrophe-s to both forms.

2. Using apostrophes to indicate missing letters

Another use of the apostrophe is to indicate missing letters in contractions such as "isn't", "doesn't" and "can't".

For example:

Full form	Shortened form
can not	can't
do not	don't
does not	doesn't
I will	I'll
is not	isn't
it is	it's
let us	let's
shall not	shan't
there is	there's
you are	you're

You'll notice that the apostrophe appears in place of the omitted letter or letters. For example, in contracting "is not" to "isn't" the apostrophe replaces the missing "o".

But consider contracting "shall not" to "shan't". If we put an apostrophe in place of the missing letters, shouldn't it be written "sha'n't"? After all, we've left out both "l"s and an "o".

It's a valid point. Indeed, until a few generations ago, "sha'n't" was a commonly encountered spelling. Today, though, it is used infrequently. Off hand, I can't think of any word in common use that contains more than one apostrophe.

How about you?

3. Common mistakes with apostrophes

Here are a few situations in which apostrophes are commonly misused:

The boy's were arguing.

The boys were arguing.

An apostrophe would be wrong in the example above because we're not indicating that the boys own anything, nor are we omitting any letters. An apostrophe is simply not needed.

A closely related error is the use of an apostrophe to make an upper-case word plural; e.g.

We bought two new PC's.

We bought two new PCs.

There is no need for the apostrophe here as it is not indicating possession or omitted letters. It's simply making PC plural, and we don't need an apostrophe for that.

Finally, take note of the common confusion between "its" and "it's". As I know from last month's newsletter, it's easy to overlook a misused apostrophe in this case even if you know the rules.

The following examples should reinforce how to use "its" and "it's" correctly:

IT'S necessary to use an apostrophe if you mean "it is".

IT'S easy to remember that.

So if IT'S "it is" you mean, use an apostrophe.

My PC has had ITS memory expanded.

What is the size of ITS memory now?

I think ITS memory is 1024 megabytes now.

Summary: Only use an apostrophe if you mean "it is".

4. "Mothers Day", "Mother's Day" or "Mothers' Day"?

Well it's Mothers Day in many countries this coming Sunday, so now seems like the perfect time to ask the burning question: Does "Mothers Day" need an apostrophe, and -- if so -- where does it go?

Ask any group of people that question. After the bickering stops, the combatants will have settled into three camps. Let's look at all three in turn.

(Incidentally, because the names of holidays are written with an initial capital, we write "Mothers Day", not "mothers day".)

Choice 1. Mothers Day: no apostrophe
The argument here is that mothers do not own the day, so no possession is involved; thus, no apostrophe is needed. We are describing a day *for* mothers, not a day belonging to a particular mother or mothers.

Choice 2. Mother's Day: an apostrophe before the s
Here the argument is that the day belongs to one specific mother (yours presumably). So, because possession is involved, "Mother's Day" needs an apostrophe before the "s".

Choice 3. Mothers' Day: an apostrophe after the s
Here the argument is that the day belongs to all mothers collectively; thus, we need an apostrophe after the "s".

And the winner is?

So, which is it? Well, let me stress that you can make a reasonable case for all three of the choices, so it comes down to whether you think that ownership is involved or not.

In British English there is an increasing tendency to omit apostrophes when "for" is implied rather than "of" or "belonging to".

An increasing number of editors of British English publications are thus opting for choice one (no apostrophe) arguing that Mothers Day is a day *for* mothers, not a day belonging to mothers.

US usage, however, seems to be predominantly split between choices two and three.

Having said this, there is a great deal of inconsistency about the issue, and you will certainly continue to see all three forms in use regardless of where you live. :-)

Related phrases
If you agree that Mothers Day doesn't need an apostrophe (and feel free not to agree -- this one's still controversial), you will probably agree that these don't need apostrophes either:

girls school   (a school *for* girls, not owned by girls)

teachers lounge   (a lounge *for* teachers, not owned by teachers)

workers canteen   (a canteen *for* workers, not owned by them)

Note that in all these cases the word "for" is implied, so you may feel that no apostrophe is needed.

In the following cases, though, "of" or "belonging to" is implied, so we do use an apostrophe.

the boys' money   (the money belonging to two or more boys)

Bach's music   (the music of Bach)

the team's bus   (the bus belonging to the team)

A rule of thumb: If an apostrophe implies "of" or "belonging to", keep it. If it implies "for", lose it. (Keep in mind, though, that this is a predominantly British-English usage at present.)

© 2004 Tim North
Thank you to Tim North for allowing permission for me to reproduce this article on my website.
You'll find many more helpful tips like these in Tim North's much applauded range of e-books. FREE SAMPLE CHAPTERS are available, and all books come with a money-back guarantee.
http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com

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