The Positive Apostrophe
The apostrophe is one of the most misused punctuations in the United States. A vast majority of us certainly know the difference between a possessive noun and a plural noun, but it boggles the mind how many times I have seen these two forms used interchangeably. It's like changing one little puzzle piece to make the whole picture look different - you'd be pretty miffed if your plane ticket said "Vienna, Virginia" when you really wanted to go to Vienna, Austria, right?
The apostrophe may be small, but it is of monstrous importance in the writing world, and when not used correctly, it can create considerable confusion. This is especially true when used with the letter "s". Okay, class – let's review.
The most renowned use of the apostrophe (pronounced "Ah-poss-treh-fee") is the formation of a possessive noun – that is, giving ownership to your noun. Here are a few examples:
"Donna noticed that her cat's eyes were two different colors."
"Mark's cell phone kept disconnecting at the most inopportune times."
"There is an amazing amount of molten rock at the earth's core."
The eyes belong to the cat, the cell phone belongs to Mark, and the core belongs to the earth. No-brainer.
So, we’ve got "showing ownership". Easy, right? Well, if you've seen the same misplaced apostrophes I've seen on e-mails and web sites (and I'm sure you have), you would probably go screaming into the night, never to be heard from again. Even if this misuse does not bother you, it still helps to know when an apostrophe is appropriate.
A simple plural noun with an "s" is…well, simple. Let's look at three easy plural nouns: Chairs, floors, ships.
Now, put each in a sentence:
"There are seven chairs around the dining room table."
"Many people appreciate wood floors in a new house."
"I would love to take a cruise on one of those big ships."
There is no ownership here; they are simple plural nouns. Okay, now let's use the same words, but give them ownership with an apostrophe:
"This chair's seat cushion is awfully lumpy."
"Sandy marveled at the floor's shine."
"The ship's casino is open all night."
Can you see the difference? Similar to the very first examples on this page, the seat cushion belongs to the chair, the shine belongs to the floor, and the casino belongs to the ship. It's all about ownership, or using the possessive form of the word.
"What about plural nouns that end with 's'?" I hear you stoically point out. "I can never tell when to use apostrophes, or where they go! Do I use one 's' or two?"
I feel your pain. When a plural noun ends with "s", you can simply place the apostrophe after the word, but without the extra "s". (Some may argue this point, depending on which rules of grammar your follow or what country you're from.) Here are a couple of examples of plural nouns that end with "s", in their possessive forms:
"The banks' vaults are secured electronically."
"The twins' weddings occurred during the same month."
This usually works for proper names, too, but you must be consistent; You might leave out the extra "s" on proper names (see the alternative answers for the names below), especially since most publishing companies do the same. Some examples of names that end with "s" follow, in their possessive forms:
"Chris' trumpet playing is improving every week." (Alternative: "Chris's")
"Janis' clothes always seem to look good on her." (Alternative: "Janis's")
Feel free to use the extra "s" if you want – just remember to be consistent.
You can also find the apostrophe as part of a contraction. In the etymological world, this has nothing to do with showing ownership. A contraction is merely putting two words together—usually a pronoun and a verb—to create a new word. Here are some examples of contractions, with the formal (non-contracted) phrase following each sentence:
"They'll be arriving this summer." (They will)
"I'm starting a home-based business." (I am)
"She'd love to go to London." (She would)
Read these two sentences carefully – there is more here than just contractions:
"I've known all along that you're an avid traveler, but Malcolm's encouragement of your London vacation is astounding. I'm surprised that he doesn't simply pay for your air fare himself!"
(I have, you are, I am, does not)
Do all of the contractions make sense? I hope so. Here are the "non-contractions", underlined above:
1) "Malcolm's" is not a contraction; it is a possessive noun, showing ownership of the word "encouragement".
2) "Your" (used twice without the apostrophe) is not a contraction; It is a pronoun (i.e. him, her, he, she, it, you, your, they, them, I, we, etc…).
When you are looking at or writing a sentence, a good rule of thumb (and one that I use quite a lot) is to ask, "Does the contraction make sense if I take the apostrophe out and make it two words?" Which one of the following sentences is correct?
"You forgot you're raincoat."
"This city's not as safe as I thought."
"They left they're front door open."
If you said the second one, well done. You get a gold star! Using the rule of thumb mentioned above, here's why:
The contraction "you're" becomes "you are": "You forgot you are raincoat." Huh? I don’t think so.
Correct: "You forgot your raincoat." Notice the spellings (your vs. you're).
The contraction "city's" becomes "city is": "This city is not as safe as I thought."
Yes. The sentence still makes sense.
The contraction "they're" becomes "they are": "They left they are front door open." Umm, no.
Correct: "They left their front door open". Again, spelling counts (they're vs. their).
Remember, a contraction will NOT be the possessive form of the noun. See my Spelling page for more words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings (called homophones).
You can loosen that grip on your mouse - we're almost done!
There's one big exception to the possessive noun use of the apostrophe, and here it is:
ITS
That's right. This tiny word gives so many people so much trouble that it's worth going over the apostrophe usage. (Did you catch the "it's" in that last sentence? Contraction again, meaning, "it is".)
"ITS" is one of the top three (if not all time) exceptions to the "ownership" rule of apostrophe use. Let me show you:
"See that building? Do you remember when its roof was green?"
"See that alien? Its spaceship crashed in my backyard. Weird!"
"See that iguana? It's digging a hole the size of Lake Superior!"
Which example does NOT show ownership? The roof (noun) belongs to the building, the spaceship (noun) belongs to the alien, but the digging (verb!) does not belong to the gopher. The first example is merely telling us that the gopher is performing the action of digging. There is no noun to own.
Notice that the possessive form of "its" is spelled without an apostrophe, unlike the other examples on this page, each of which has an apostrophe. There's the difference!
The contraction form is still the same: "It's = It is".
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