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How to Use the Apostrophe
Updated January 02, 2018 from
thoughtco.com
An apostrophe is a mark of punctuation (') used to identify a noun in the possessive case or indicate the omission of one
or more letters from a word. Adjective: apostrophic.
Etymology: From the Greek, "turning away."
Basic
Guidelines for Using the Possessive Apostrophe
To form the possessive of singular
nouns, add 's (Homer's job, the dog's breakfast).
To form the possessive of plural nouns that end in s, add an apostrophe
(the bankers' bonuses, the coaches' offices). To form the
possessive of plural nouns that end in a letter other than s, add 's
(the women's cars, the children's lunch boxes).
- "The mother's heart is the child's
schoolroom." (Henry Ward Beecher)
- "Children's talent to endure stems
from their ignorance of alternatives."
(Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969)
- "I will not hide the teacher's
medication."
(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)
- "Teachers' unions are not ruining
the country."
(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)
- "If we spark a student's passion, we
unleash a powerful force upon the world."
(attributed to Tim Fargo)
- "[T]he first instance of grading students'
papers occurred at Cambridge University in 1792 at the suggestion of a
tutor named William Farish."
(Neil Postman, Technopoly. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992)
- "Don't let anyone tell you that apostrophes don't
matter and we would be better off without them. Consider these four
phrases, each of which means something different:
my
sister's friend's books (refers to one sister and her friend)
my sister's friends' books (one sister with lots of friends)
my sisters' friend's books (more than one sister, and their friend)
my sisters' friends' books (more than one sister, and their friends)
(David Marsh and Amelia
Hodsdon, Guardian Style, 3rd ed. Random House UK, 2010)
Apostrophes
in Contractions
- Apostrophes
are also used in contractions (two or more words are combined
to form one, with letters omitted). The classes of word which are most
frequently affected by contractions are verbs and pronouns: for example, I'm, let's, you'll.
. . . The apostrophe generally replaces omitted letters: for example, the o
in not (doesn't)." (Ray Barker and Christine
Moorcroft, Spelling First. Nelson Thornes, 2002)
- "If you don't like something, change
it. If you can't change it, change your
attitude."(attributed to Maya Angelou)
- "She wasn't doing a thing that I
could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding
the universe together." (J.D. Salinger)
- "Three o'clock is always too
late or too early for anything you want to do." (Jean Paul Sartre, Nausea,
1938)
Apostrophes
With Family Names
- "This brings us to those names we see in front of
houses and on mailboxes everywhere--'The Smith's,' 'The Gump's,' and even
(sigh) 'The Jone's.' . . .
"Who lives in the house? The Smiths. The Gumps. The Joneses. That's
what the signs should say. It's really nobody else's business whether the
Smiths, the Gumps, and the Joneses own their domiciles. All we need to
know is that the Smiths, the Gumps, and the Joneses live there. If you
must announce possession, place the apostrophe after the plural
names--'the Smiths',' 'The Gumps',' and 'The Joneses'.'"
(Richard Lederer and John Shore, Comma Sense. St. Martin's, 2005)
Descriptive
Phrases Without Apostrophes
- "Don't use apostrophes in such primarily
descriptive phrases as a New York Mets outfielder, a teachers college,
a writers manual, a childrens book, the agencies request. As the AP Stylebook helpfully notes, the
apostrophe is usually skipped if 'for' or 'by' would go better than 'of'
in a longer version: college for teachers, manual for writers, request
by the agencies.
"In descriptive names, some organizations or institutions use the
apostrophe while others don't. For instance, Diner's Club, but National
Governors' Association. Consult your house style."
(Rene J. Cappon, The Associated Press Guide to Punctuation. Basic
Books, 2003)
Pronouns
Without Apostrophes; Letters and Numbers With Apostrophes (Sometimes)
- "In the 19th century, printers and publishers
attempted to standardize the system [of using apostrophes], but they still
left some anomalies. They applied the rule about possession rigorously to
nouns, but forgot about pronouns, so that the possessives his,
hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs don't have an apostrophe.
They banned the apostrophe from plurals. but allowed a number of exceptional
cases, such as after numerals (the 1860's), abbreviations (the VIP's), and
individual letters (P's and Q's).
- "Anyone who refuses point-blank to allow an apostrophe
before a plural has to surrender when they are asked
to punctuate 'dot the i's and cross the t's.'" (David Crystal, By
Hook or by Crook. Overlook, 2008
- "Omitted Figures: The class of '62. The Spirit
of '76. The '20s. Plurals of a single letter: Mind your p's and
q's. He learned the three R's and brought home a report card with four A's
and two B's. The Oakland A's won the pennant." (The Associated
Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law: 2013, ed. by Darrell
Christian, Sally Jacobsen, and David Minthorn. Basic Books, 2013)
- "Letters of the alphabet. Some letters can be made
plural by adding an s (the three Rs), but often an apostrophe is
needed:
How many
students received A's?
Are all the i's dotted and the t's crossed?
Mind your p's and q's."
(Amy
Einsohn, The Copyeditor's Handbook, 2nd ed. Univ. of California Press,
2006)
- "Decades do not have apostrophes: the 1990s."
(The Economist Style Guide. Profile Books, 2010)
Apostrophes
With Abbreviated Verbs
- "In recent years a number of abbreviated verbs
have become a part of our language, and the apostrophe is a vital
ingredient in their correct spelling.
1. She
OK'd the merger.
2. He was KO'd in the fifth round.
3. They OD'd on barbiturates.
. . .
[T]he apostrophe is entirely legitimate here. Indeed, it is essential: not to
signal the dropping of the e invites the reader to 'mispronounce' the
verb, with potentially confusing results."
(Richard Palmer, Write in Style: A Guide to Good English, 2nd ed.
Routledge, 2002)
Origin
of the Apostrophe
- "The 16th-century printers not only contributed
marks for interpolations to the general repertory but also developed new
marks to indicate omissions. The apostrophe is a peculiarity of
written language: it was intended as a sign to indicate the elision of a vowel, but it was retained to indicate a
missing letter when the vowel no longer appeared in the spoken form."
(M.B. Parkes, Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of
Punctuation. Univ. of California Press, 1993)
G.B.
Shaw on Apostrophes: "Uncouth Bacilli"
- "The apostrophies [sic] in ain't,
don't, haven't, etc., look so ugly that the most careful printing
cannot make a page of colloquial dialogue as handsome as a page of classical
dialogue. Besides, shan't should be sha"n't, if the
wretched pedantry of indicating the elision is to be carried out. I have written
aint, dont, havnt, shant, shouldnt and wont for twenty years
with perfect impunity, using the apostrophe only where its omission would
suggest another word: for example, hell for he'll. There is
not the faintest reason for persisting in the ugly and silly trick of
peppering pages with these uncouth bacilli. I also write thats, whats,
lets, for the colloquial forms of that is, what is, let us; and
I have not yet been prosecuted."
(George Bernard Shaw, "Notes on the Clarendon Press Rules for
Compositors and Readers." The Author, 1901)
Gertrude
Stein on Apostrophes
- "[The] apostrophe has a gentle tender
insinuation that makes it very difficult to definitely decide to do
without it. One does do without it, I do, I mostly always do, but I cannot
deny that from time to time I feel myself having regrets and from time to
time I put it in to make the possessive case. I absolutely do not like it
all alone when it is outside the word when the word is a plural, no then
positively and definitely no, I do not like it and in leaving it out I
feel no regret . . .."
(Gertrude Stein, "Punctuation in Prose." Lectures
in America, 1935)
The
Lighter Side of Apostrophes
- "Not only do I not know what's going
on, I wouldn't know what to do about it if I did."
(George Carlin)
- Homer: There's your giraffe, little girl.
Ralph: I'm a boy.
Homer: That's the spirit. Never give up.
(The Simpsons)
Pronunciation: ah-POS-tro-fee
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