I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
David has had me on about how I murder apostrophes.
With Kate (an ex-journo) on the team I have asked her to locate a guide to, our friend, the apostrophe.
(1) An apostrophe is NEVER used to make a word plural (plural means more than one).
Eg. (These examples are correct):
- One friend, two friends
- Once office, two offices
- One guess, two guesses
- One Helen, two Helens
- One Xero, two Xeroes
(2) To make a word into its possessive (possessive means belonging to) form, add ’s to the end. Eg. (These examples are correct):
- Rod’s (belonging to Rod) car, Rod’s BlackBerry, Rod’s MacBook
- Tineke and Hamish’s son Jack, Hamish’s phone
- People’s Republic of China
- The NZX’s Mark Weldon
NB. If the word is in its plural form (three dogs, two buildings) that you want to make possessive and finishes with an S already, only add an apostrophe to its end, not another ‘s. Eg. (These examples are correct):
Three dogs’ breakfast (breakfast belonging to some dogs – the breakfast of the dogs)
Two buildings’ rates (the rates of the buildings)
(A trick to check that you are right in an apostrophe situation is to read the sentence backwards and see if it is “of the†eg. Breakfast of the three dogs means it needs an apostrophe.)
(3) If a word ends in S in its singular form (James, Thomas) and you wish to make possessive form (eg. James’ breakfast) there are two schools of thought, so you can choose how you want to deal with it: e.g. James’ breakfast (belonging to James) and James’s breakfast are both correct.
The only exception is with classical names, like Socrates or Jesus, where the single tailing apostrophe is used:
Jesus’ disciples (belonging to Jesus)
(4) Some words are THEMSELVES possessives and need no apostrophe. For example:
- his, hers, its, their, whose
- His dog
- The dog is hers
- No it is their dog
- Whose dog?
(5) Where you are using a word that is a contraction of two words, put an apostrophe where the missing letters are. For example:
- We’re (we are - A is missing)
- haven’t (have not - O is missing)
- Can’t (can not – O is missing)
- How’s that? (how is that? – I is missing)
(6) You DO need the apostrophe to make a plural if you are writing a symbol: Eg. 1’s 2’s
The apostrophe seems difficult to use because we speak in a manner that is different from how we write. If in doubt, rephrase or expand the contraction you are attempting to write. Written English does not necessarily read better if it is written as you would speak it. Adopting a more formal style can be clearer.
Particular pitfalls – these are correct:
- Its colour – has no apostrophe, means the colour belonging to it
- It’s a success – means it is a success
- Theirs – no apostrophe, means belonging to them
- There’s no need to panic – means there is no need to panic
- They’re on their way – means they are on their way
- Their house – means the house belonging to them
blog
Kate will love this!
“Help! the apostrohe police have got me”…but seriously
Why stop there - try to explaining to a 5 year old why the English language is so hard to learn..
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The ! buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is neither
egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in
Pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French
fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is! it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? (an odd or an end). If teachers taught, why don’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
• In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
• Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
• Have noses that run and feet that smell?
• How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as! it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
Haven’t you ever seen this http://www.angryflower.com/aposter.html ?
@Mike
Not about the apostrophe but along similar lines: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96844829@N00/214586490/in/set-72157594235942544/
@John
Heh! Although, “formally” could work if the building was standing to attention, rather than, you know, just relaxing there :)
Rod, two things
1. A journalist who can spell and actually understands grammar; hold on to her, a very rare breed indeed.
2. One Helen, Two Helens - this is three Helens too many!
Thanks Rod. I’ve just copied this to all our staff (attributing Kate and Rod). A great little aide.
Here is a link to a web site of the publisher of a very good locally written book.
http://www.nakedize.com/
It is called Clear, Concise, Compelling - How to write less and achieve more
by Simon Hertnon
It’s very good and very well laid out.
Regards point #1 — apparently it’s okay to use apostrophes to pluralise abbreviations which use fullstops. Examples of this include Ph.D.’s and S.O.S.’s.
There’s some moderately interesting discussion and links outlining gotchas with apostrophe use (and, yes, the obligatory link to Bob The Angry Flower, which is worth printing out and sticking to your wall) at — self-link ahead! — http://www.additiverich.com/archives/001618.html
Good summary.
Regarding “it”:
- uness one is shortening “it is” (with “it’s”), an apostrophe is never used in conjunction with”it” to indicate the possessive.
i.e.
Its dog (dog of it)
It’s a beautiful day (it is a beautiful day)
Have you seen its yellow stripe (possessive)
It’s all worth it in the end (it is all worth … )
(at least, that’s what my mum recently said)
Rod, i would have liked to have seen you take the opportunity to highlight the differences between “your” and “you’re”, this one goes beyond apostrophe murder and so many get it wrong.
Hi, I have a question regarding correct use of apostrophes when one writes sentences like: “Four days notice” - is there an apostrophe required and, if so, where should it be - day’s or days’. Thanks.
Marianne said
“Hi, I have a question regarding correct use of apostrophes when one writes sentences like: “Four days notice†- is there an apostrophe required and, if so, where should it be - day’s or days’. Thanks.”
The day doesn’t possess the notice, so no there isn’t an apostrophe needed.
“‘Hi, I have a question regarding correct use of apostrophes when one writes sentences like: “Four days notice†- is there an apostrophe required and, if so, where should it be - day’s or days’. Thanks.’
The day doesn’t possess the notice, so no there isn’t an apostrophe needed.”
This is belated, but the above reply is incorrect. “Days” in the phrase “four days’ notice” does, in fact, take an apostrophe. Of course, the day does not literally possess the notice. However, just as “the car of Tom” becomes “Tom’s car,” so too does “notice of four days” become “four days’ notice.”
Placement depends on the plurality of “day.” “Notice of four days” becomes “four days’ notice,” while “notice of one day” becomes “one day’s notice.”
Apostrophes are never used for plurals of any type, even for numbers and abbreviations. e.g. the 1980’s is incorrect, it should be the 1980s. Item 5) at the top of this sheet is wrong. Similarly for PhDs, not PhD’s. See any reputable style guide.
Actually i´m not a native english speaker, i´m from germany.
But of course, that makes me even more curious about the apostrophe.
When Bill tried to point out the need of using an apostrophe in “four days´notice” he might have emphasised a little more the difference between singular and plural.
Ian is correctly stating that “Apostrophes are never used for plurals of any type…”, but forgets about the possessive case entirely.
In my opinion it should look like this:
singular: “one day”
plural: “four days”
singular, possessive: “one day´s notice”
plural, possessive: “four days´notice”
just like in:
singular: “one friend”
plural: “four friends”
singular, possessive: “one friend´s car”
plural, possessive: “four friends´car” (a group of four friends who have one car)
So actually the apostrophe does NOT indicate plural but possessive case.