Handout Topic: Apostrophes
Apostrophes- do not confuse possessives with plurals!
You prefer not to haul your grandmother’s tool box full of apostrophes to the beach, so you decide to tackle the necessary punctuation issues the night before your big outing. You need stuff that other people possess to ensure that you have a splash-up time: your father’s sun umbrella, your older sister’s car and your best friend’s novel. Presto, as a singular possessor with all your apostrophes in place, your beach day preparations turn out to be a breeze, and you can leave that tool box at home or so you think.
You have, however, forgotten a few things. As a plural possessor, you and your friends need to locate the women’s and men’s change rooms. You should have brought along a spare supply of apostrophes since the surfers are regular plural possessors, and you want to spend the afternoon admiring the surfers’ bodies. Yes, definitely the surfers’ bodies versus the surfer’s body, though the lone surfer at the end of the beach is worthy of considerable admiration. You also wonder about the lonely person around the bend from the sign the Nudist’s Beach. Where are all his or her buddies? Yes, if the sign read the Nudists’ Beach the lonely nudist would have company.
Contractions are another use for the apostrophe. Without those extra apostrophes you have to spend the entire day speaking in a stilted manner since you have to avoid all contractions: You will get seriously burned if you do not wear sunscreen. It is extremely hot. What a cute dog. It has lost its ball. Your friends give you a what’s-the-matter-with-you look. They remembered to bring their apostrophes. For you, however, without apostrophes there is no you’ll (you will), or it’s (it is) or it’s (it has). Fortunately, the ball does belong to the dog since its is a possessive form without an apostrophe (its ball). Remember that contractions are great for the beach, but should usually be avoided in academic writing.
Apostrophes in their Proper Places
Avoid possessive when you want a simple plural
- not writers’ retreat’s but writers’ retreats
- not book’s needed but books needed
Use plural possessive when ownership belongs to a group
- not Writer’s Federation but Writers’ Federation (unless there’s only one lonely writer)
- not Resident’s Association but Residents’ Association
If something is owned by one person use singular possessive
- not Grandmas’ tool box but Grandma’s tool box
- not Joes’ wharf but Joe’s wharf (unless he has a lot of cousins all with the same name)
Remember that people own their thoughts and ideas, and that a day or week can show ownership
- not a days worth of play but a day’s worth of play; not in two weeks time but in two weeks’ time
- not Janes ideas but Jane’s ideas; not James thoughts but James’s thoughts
The clarity of a properly placed apostrophe
- not were happy to say that our beach day was a success but we’re happy to say that our beach day was a success or we are happy to say that our beach day was a success
- not its confusing but it’s confusing or it is confusing
Eleonore Schönmaier, Mount Saint Vincent University, Student Affairs, Writing Resource Centre