I was just reading LifeHack on How to Correctly Use Apostrophes. The focus of the post was the greengrocer’s apostrophe. I thought I would expand on the subject of apostrophes a little.
Somewhere back around second grade, our school teachers went over the rules on how to use an apostrophe. I was there; I remember. In a previous post, I noted how people often commit an error when writing about commas in a series. I suppose this is somewhat related; apostrophes are superscripted commas. Apostrophes and commas are such puny little marks that they are not given much significance. I’m here to tell you that apostrophes, like commas, have meaning.
What do apostrophes do?
Apostrophes show two things.
- Show missing letters
- Indicate possession
Samples of missing letters
I live in Texas. One common word I hear is Y’all. This is a shortened form of You All. Here are more examples.
- Can’t is short for Can not
- Ne’er is short for Never
- Burnin’ is short for Burning
I could not think of a way to start a word with an apostrophe. Otherwise, I would have stuck that in. I hope you get the point that if a letter is taken out of a contraction or single word, you stick an apostrophe in the gap to show the reader how the word is pronounced. When you read neer, the sound is different than ne’er.
Apostrophes used in possession
I think this is what confuses most people who use an apostrophe the wrong way. Possessives and plurals sound alike. Grocer’s and grocers sound exactly alike, but mean different things. This might stem from some people being audio learners whilst others are visual learners. I’m visual, so I remember how things should look despite how they sound.
- Grocer’s means that it belongs to the grocer
- Grocers means that there is more than one grocer
- What if it belongs to more than one grocer? In that case use grocers’. First make it plural and then add the apostrophe.
More Help
If that last one did not twist your brain, then you are ready to read a full explanation at the Apostrophe Protection Society.
2 Comments
My pet peeve occurs when people don’t know how to punctuate a plural that ends with “s” and is possessive. For example, “The Smiths’ car was hit by lightning.” “Russ’s car was hit by lightning.” Because “Russ” is singular, one should show the possessive with an apostrophe and an “s.” The only time one would use just the apostrophe occurs when the word is plural AND ends with “s.”
Thanks Shannon, that’s a great example. You are right. People hesitate to use s apostrophe s to denote possession.
Post a Comment