Correct use of apostrophes.

[jrbarnett]

One of my main gripes when it comes to written English is the use of the humble apostrophe.
Very misunderstood in parts, it serves multiple purposes and is often put in inappropriate places. The examples here are to illustrate a point. I hope that this will prove a useful reference.

It has 3 legitimate purposes:

1) To indicate ownership:
"jrbarnett's computer" means "the computer belonging to jrbarnett."

If the last letter of the noun is an "s" then the apostrophe goes at the end of the name. eg:

"Tek-tips' server" means "the server belonging to Tek-tips"

2) To mark contractions:
For example:
it's - means "it is", "it has" or "it was"
don't - means "do not"
won't - means "would not"

3) To quote from other people:

Fred said 'hello.'

Note that use of the double quote " is equally acceptable here.

When not to use apostrophes:

To indicate plurals:
"Pen's" means - "belonging to the pen", for example: the pen's lid is correct, but "I have 10 pen's in my pocket" is wrong. The plural of "pen" is "pens."

Use of apostrophes within numbers:
I am aware that some countries use the apostrophe instead of the comma as a 3 digit delimiter, but in the Queen's English, this is not permitted, either in numeric or word form.
For example, "1000's" is wrong, as is "thousand's."

General rule
A good rule of thumb from my English teacher was that if you weren't sure whether to use an apostrophe, you were more likely to be grammatically correct if it was left out than put in.

John

 

[foundryqa]

Also, let's not forget that:

"it's" is only used for contractions "it is" and
"its" is possessive form, meaning "it has ownership of" and doesn't use the apostrophe

Fred

 

[ramani]

Hi
[COLOR=red yellow]It's [/color] easy to understand and easy to float.
[COLOR=red yellow]I've [/color] made this comment to reflect the complications.

Often the repeat use of unacceptable syntax [COLOR=red yellow]gets [/color] into rules as acceptable and correct [COLOR=red yellow]ones[/color]. The 's' added can signify plural or the way [COLOR=red yellow]it's [/color] done just like the apostrophes.

____________________________________________
ramani - (Subramanian.G)

http://winnersoft.coolfreepages.com/

 

[rosieb]

Ok, but CDs or CD's (and similarly). Given that D is a contraction of Disk/c.

Classic "greengrocers'" apostraphe; asparagu's

Rosie
"Never express yourself more clearly than you think" (Niels Bohr)

 

[ChrisHunt]

It's just struck me that an apostrophe is only a few letters away from a catastrophe.

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[Stella740pl]

jrbarnett,

Slightly off topic:
I am aware that some countries use the apostrophe instead of the comma as a 3 digit delimiter.
A you aware, that in some countries comma is used as a decimal separator, and dot/period as a 3 digit delimiter, e.g. just the other way around of we usually use?

Stella

 

[jrbarnett]

Stella,

Yes, I was.

John

 

[Stella740pl]

jrbarnett,

I just thought it's worth mentioning since you haven't.

rosieb,

Personally, I would use apostrophe with contractions just the way it is done with regular, "full-size" words. It's just looks more correct to me this way. I would write

"I have many CDs", not "I have many CD's"

but

"This is your CD's case, that one isn't"

although this example might not be the the best one, because we can always say

"This CD case is yours" or "This is your CD case", right?

But you got the idea.

 

[KornGeek]

If the last letter of the noun is an "s" then the apostrophe goes at the end of the name. eg:

"Tek-tips' server" means "the server belonging to Tek-tips"

This is different from what I learned. I learned you put the apostrophe at the end only if the word ends in "s" and is plural. For instance:

The boys' hats are blue.

However, if the word ends in "s" and is singular, you still add the apostrophe and an additional "s" to the end. For instance:

Chris's hat is blue.


I'm not 100% certain that this is correct, but it is what I was taught. Is there any place where we can get a definitive ruling on which is the correct method?

 

[CajunCenturion]

"This is your CD's case, that one isn't"

I agree that this example is not a very good one because it implies that the CDs own the case. I also find the double possessive (your and CD's) to be awkward. This is your CD case.

I’m not sure that I agree with KornGeek that the apostrophe goes after the noun only if the noun is both plural and ends in 's.'

The bus’ seats are uncomfortable.
The bus’s seats are uncomfortable.

I think that either one is considered acceptable, but there is no question about

The busses’ seats are uncomfortable.

The boy's hat is blue. (single boy, one hat)
The boys’ hat is blue. (many boys, one hat – shared ownership)
The boys' hats are blue. (many boys, many hats)

All three are correct, but mean three different meanings.

Often the repeat use of unacceptable syntax gets into rules as acceptable and correct ones.

How true that is. At the risk of showing my age, it used to be that an inanimate object could not assume the possessive case. You would not say, "The computer's OS is Windows" because a computer, being an inanimate object, cannot own anything. The proper structure would have been "The OS of the computer is Windows." But as English is a living and evolving language, this construct is no longer in vogue.



Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[strongm]

A definitive ruling? On English grammar? Involving the apostrophe? Hah!

I believe Fowler would argue for:

tek-tips's server

since 'tek-tips' can be considered a modern name.Names from antiquity, says Fowler, don't get the extra s, eg:

Archimedes' screw

Oh, and if it ends in an 'iz' sound you can drop the extra s as well. Says Fowler. Others may differ...

 

[Stella740pl]

CajunCenturion,
by now I can come up with a better one. Say,

"The CEO's quarters located on the second floor of the main building".

"CEOs of top 10 companies in the industry cannot agree on this idea".

 

[CajunCenturion]

Makes sense to me stella740pl.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Stella740pl]

This is to help you solve the argument about possessives of plural and singular forms:

http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm

 

[strongm]

That provides some guidance, but here's an extract from the Oxford Companion to English Literature: "There never was a golden age in which the rules for the possessive apostrophe were clear-cut and known, understood and followed by most educated people

 

[Stella740pl]

Well, as for most educated people, read, the scolars of their times, they've always felt free to author (initiate?) some innovative changes in grammar and punctuation and introduce new words, either by changing/combining existing words or by borrowing from other languages, and those changes were viewed as enrichments to their languages.

As for the rest of us, especially those for whom English (or any other language, for that matter) is not a first language, in order to be understood and still be considered literate and educated, we cannot feel free with the language and need rules and some guidance on correct usage.

 

[strongm]

The Oxford Companion is not referring to scholars when it talks about 'educated people'; it is simply referring (in a grantedly pretentious way) to people assumed to have a basic, solid grounding in the English language. All it is trying to say is that even native English speakers do not have a 100% grasp of the rules for the possessive apostrophe. And they certainly don't agree on them.

Your reference, for example, does not match entirely the apostrophe rules discussed in Fowler's Modern English Usage (Fowler is possibly, certainly in the British English speaking world, the best-known authority), and Fowler in turn differs from Eric Partridge (in Usage and Abusage) on points of detail

 

[TonyJollans]

Cajun makes an interesting point about inanimate objects not assuming the possessive which neatly sidesteps a lot (but not all) of the issues.

It seems to me that much confusion comes about because we're not sure what "CD" is. If it is a contraction then, as Rosie says, the "D" stands for both Disc and Discs, but we use it as a word (a noun) and, as a singular noun, it will take an s in the plural. In the expression "CD Case" (which I agree is better than "CD's Case) is "CD" an adjective?

An interesting one I saw recently, on a notice board outside what I think was a gym, was "Physios". It caught my eye and jarred; I'm not entirely sure why but I think perhaps it should have an apostrophe signifying ommission (although that would probably jar, too!); it comes down to whether "physio" is a word or an abbeviation.

I offer all this as opinion. Despite being a somewhat fussy writer (if not speaker) of English, I wouldn't presume to know the (ever changing) rules.

Enjoy,
Tony

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[ESquared]

Remembering the difference between its and it's cannot be as hard as it seems to be for people in general.

No one gets confused and writes

hi's
he'r
m'y
you'r
thei'r
ou'r

so what's the big deal?

 

[LesleyW]

As someone who used to make this mistake, I can tell you that the big deal is...

It seems to follow -

The height of (belonging to) Lesley -->
Lesley's

The height of (belonging to) it -->
It's

You never say
The height of hi
therefore never tempted to put hi's

the others (her, my, your) don't end in an "s" so no temptation there.

L