Hi, everyone! This is Dave from the Effective Writing Center.
Thanks for stopping by for this short lesson on the apostrophe.
Let's begin by reviewing the three main uses of the apostrophe. Of course, you are familiar with the first use:
to show possession with an apostrophe+s, as in the “tree's roots.”
But an apostrophe+s is also used in expressions of time like in “A hard day's night,”
and measurement like, “A nickel's worth of candy.”
Another use of the apostrophe is to make indefinite pronouns possessive
as in phrases like “Somebody's book” or “Everybody's problem.”
The third major use of the apostrophe is to show the omission of letters and numbers in contractions.
You're familiar with contractions like “can't” for “cannot” as in “James can't find his car.”
But there are also common contractions like “it's” for “it is,” as in, “It’s time to go.”
But don’t forget that numbers can be omitted too, like the Class of ‘89 for 1989.
Now that you have the basics, let’s take a lot at some of the special tips and tricks that will turn you into an apostrophe professional.
The first one is: Just one -s. Put another way: If the word you’re adding an apostrophe to already has an -s, don’t add another one.
Just tack on the apostrophe at the end.
Here’s an example: “Both of the cars’ drivers were reckless.”
Notice that the word “cars” is plural because the sentence refers to “both cars.”
So, to make the word cars possessive, as in the “cars’ drivers,” all we add is the apostrophe; no additional -s is required.
Our second special tip is the it’s/its confusion.
The misuse of the apostrophe in this pair is the most common error in writing
and is usually caused by not proofreading carefully or not remembering that personal pronouns never use an apostrophe.
So, the “its” without an apostrophe is possessive, as in “The dog wagged its tail.”
But the “it’s” with an apostrophe is a contraction, as in, “It’s never too late.”
This same confusion is also common in pairs like “their” and “they’re,” and “your” and “you’re.”
Now for our third trick” “Two for One.”
This refers to a pair acting together or, in the language of tax returns, jointly.
For example, “Michael and Mary’s home.” This couple owns the home together, jointly.
So, only one apostrophe is needed for the pair. But consider this example: “Michael’s and Mary’s grades.”
Now, unless something dishonest is going on, this statement refers to two different sets of grades,
the grades of Michael and the grades of Mary.
Another example makes this clear: “Larry and Sandra’s new car.”
Larry and Sandra are a cute couple who together bought a new family car.
They thus own it jointly and thus only one apostrophe + s.
When “car” becomes “cars,” we have two new owners:
Both Larry’s and Sandra’s new cars. Two cars and two apostrophe + s’s.
Our last tip is” Women and children first,
which simply means that because plural nouns like women and children do not end in -s,
you must add both the apostrophe and an -s to make them possessive.
Now, if you’d like to review these rules for the apostrophe, simply click the replay button below.