6.1.1.1: Apostrophes
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Apostrophes
Do we really need apostrophes?
When you send a text message, you probably do not bother with apostrophes right? It makes sense that we might not worry about properly punctuating possessives and contractions in a text message, but it’s very important to remember that we do need to use apostrophes correctly in other writing situations.
Academics frequently debate about whether or not text messaging is going to kill the poor apostrophe. In his essay “Dear Apostrophe: C Ya,” Rob Jenkins (2012) writes, “[O]ne of my professors, talking about the way language evolves over time, predicted that the next evolutionary stage would involve common punctuation marks. Specifically, he said, the apostrophe would eventually cease to exist” (para. 1).
This may be true, but the apostrophe is not dead yet!
So if you have been text messaging so long that you forgot what the apostrophe is for, the following pages should be helpful.
Possessives
Using Apostrophes to Make Words Possessive
Beginning writers sometimes mistakenly add apostrophes to make words plural, but this is not how the apostrophe is used; the apostrophe is used to show possession or ownership.
Examples:
- Sam’s game plan
- My friend’s DVD
- Beth’s zombie
Here’s a test you can use to determine whether an apostrophe is needed—we call it the “of” test. In other words, can you reword the sentence and substitute the apostrophe with “of”?
| Using an Apostrophe | Using “of” test |
|---|---|
| my friend’s DVD | the DVD of my friend |
| Beth’s zombie plan | the zombie plan of Beth |
| James’s canned goods* | the canned goods of James |
| *James’ is also acceptable |
If you just mean to make a word plural, you should not add an apostrophe. Here is an example of incorrect usage:
The student’s planned to buy their books but played Xbox instead.
Here, you would not use an apostrophe because there is no ownership being established. You can double-check this example and see that this use of the apostrophe would not pass the “of” test.
The planned of the students just does not make sense.
The sentence above would not pass the test and should read as follows:
The students planned to buy their books but played Xbox instead.
Plural Possessives
Making plural words possessive can be confusing at times because we so often add an s to a noun to make it plural. All of those s’s can be a little overwhelming.
But the rules are pretty clear on this issue.
To make plural nouns that do not end in s possessive, add ’s.
- The children’s scary books
- The mice’s tiny tails
To make plural nouns that end in s possessive, add just the ’.
- My cats’ treasures
- Our zombie fortresses’ weaknesses
Contractions
Using Apostrophes to Create Contractions
Apostrophes are also used in contractions where the apostrophe takes the place of letters that are omitted when you join two words. Here are some examples:
- I am = I’m
- You are = you’re
- It is = it’s
- Did not = didn’t
You can also use an apostrophe to stand in for omitted numbers.
- I was born in ’75, and I’m feeling old.
It’s important to note that contractions and using apostrophes to stand in for omitted numbers are generally considered too informal for formal, academic writing.
Some students wonder why they should bother learning these rules, then. The answer is that there are plenty of writing situations where contractions are appropriate. It’s just that contractions are too informal for most of the formal papers you write for college and should be avoided in those situations.
Tips from the Professor
While most of the rules regarding apostrophes are pretty straightforward, there are some situations related to apostrophes that seem to give a lot of people a lot of trouble. Here are some helpful tips:
- It’s is a contraction for it is. If you need to make it possessive, as in its creepy eyes, you shouldn’t use an apostrophe. Because of the contraction, the possessive its goes against the normal rules.
- Sometimes, you’ll see writers use an apostrophe when referring to decades like the 1980’s. However, it’s standard now to write the 1980s without the apostrophe.
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To make a compound word such as mother-in-law possessive, just add an ’s to the last word. Here is an example:
- My mother-in-law’s weekly phone calls make me really nervous.
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If you need to show joint possession, only the last word should be made possessive, as illustrated in this example:
- Alex and Megan’s zombie-proof fence is certainly admirable.
Watch this video of the grammar professor, as she helps her student understand how to use apostrophes correctly.