Jj is for Jottings 107.  The Dreaded Apostrophe.

I don’t know why people seem to view it as “the dreaded apostrophe” and have so much trouble with it, more than any other form of punctuation.  (For comments on the importance of punctuation in social media, see here.)  The basic applications of the apostrophe are really quite easy.  Granted, it can get a bit tricky in more advanced situations, but the majority of the population would rarely encounter that end of the scale.

WHEN DO WE USE THE DREADED APOSTROPHE?

In English, we use apostrophes in relation to:

1. The possessive.
2. Contractions and other missing letters.
3. Time or quantity.
4. Omission of figures in dates.
5. Strange, non-standard English.
6. Plurals of letters.
7. Plurals of words.
8. Irish names, such as O’Neill and O’Grady.

We don’t come across some of these categories very often – mainly the first two.

1. THE POSSESSIVE.

Three Steps for Using Possessive Apostrophes:

1. Be aware of possession. Find the owner or owners. Ask yourself: To whom does the object, idea or quality belong?

toy of the cat =cat’s toy

weather of today= today’s weather

books of the boys= the boys’ books

shoes of the men= men’s shoes

report of the members=members’ report

 

2. Place ’s after the owner or owners: (Owner) + ’s

cat + ’s= cat’s toys

men + ’s= men’s shoes

 

3. If the word is a plural noun that ends in s, just add an apostrophe (’).

boys + ’= boys’ books

members +’= members’ report

 

Note: If the spelling of the word itself is plural without adding an “s”, then the apostrophe is placed before the “s” eg. Children’s games.

People become amazingly muddled over apostrophes and put them into plurals (more than one) where they have no business.  They should be found in plural words ONLY when there is belonging involved eg. the boy’s books (= one boy with more than one book); the boys’ books (= more than one boy with either one or more books each).  Sometimes examples are much clearer than explanations.  See:

one boy’s books         one man’s books          one woman’s books

two boys’ books         two men’s books          two women’s books

one child’s book         two children’s books   two girls’ books

one week’s wages      two weeks’ wages       four cents’ worth

Mr. Smith’s dog          the Smiths’ dog            James’s or James’ dog

 

2. CONTRACTIONS AND OTHER MISSING LETTERS.

For contractions, the apostrophe is placed at the spot where the letters have been left out:

• Don’t do that!  (Do not)
• I’d like an ice-cream, please. (I would)
• We’d better hurry.  (We had)
• It’s cold today.  (It is)
• We’re ready.  (We are)
• He didn’t pass. (did not)
• You can’t have it. (cannot)
• We’re travelling to Jo’burg. (Other missing letters)
• He bcc’d a copy to all the managers. (Other missing letters)

But we don’t always use apostrophes:

• 15, Elm Rd.
• St Matthew Passion

3. TIME OR QUANTITY.

• In one week’s time.
• Three metres’ worth.
• Two weeks’ notice.

 

4. OMISSION OF FIGURES IN DATES.

• Class of ’03, the 60’s.

 

5. STRANGE, NON-STANDARD ENGLISH.

• Are ya comin’ ‘ere? (This category is more common in the regional accents in the UK.)

 

6. PLURALS OF LETTERS.

• Mind your p’s and q’s.
• Dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

 

7. PLURALS OF WORDS.

• A list of do’s and don’ts. (Or you could write: A list of DOs and DON’Ts.) And I’ve seen “don’t’s” from a very well-respected expert on the subject.
• Don’t bother me with the if’s and but’s.

 

8. IRISH NAMES, SUCH AS O’NEILL AND O’GRADY.

We all thought this was a contraction of “of” (like John o’ Gaunt), but this is incorrect.  The “O” in Irish names is an anglicisation of “ua”, meaning grandson.

THE FIRST STEP IN HELPING OUR CHILDREN LEARN NOT TO DREAD APOSTROPHES.

When we are reading with our children and playing reading aloud games, we can also take the opportunity to point out punctuation, in this case, specifically apostrophes.  Talk about where the apostrophe is if it’s a singular or plural possessive, the missing letters in a contraction etc.

THE BUSY LITTLE APOSTROPHE.

The poor little apostrophe has a lot of legitimate work to do.  But many people make it work even harder by putting it into plurals where it doesn’t belong.  I suppose some balance is restored by the fact that many other people (or it could be the same ones) omit apostrophes.  Next time we’ll go further into some of the common apostrophe confusions.  We’ll also see how misplaced apostrophes can lead the reader up the garden path.

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