Legal Law

The Beloved Apostrophe

There are only 3 main uses for the apostrophe, however using the apostrophe correctly is a confusing task. This article describes the appropriate uses and the inappropriate uses to help people improve their writing.

The beloved apostrophe is meant to do three main things: show possession, show omission, and make plurals in rare and special cases.

The number one purpose of Apostrophe: apostrophes are excellent indicators of possession. There is an example of this at the beginning of this sentence. If I want to say that I own the shoes, while my husband pays the bill, I would call them Angela’s shoes and Joe Manolo Blahnik’s bill.

In most cases, the apostrophe is placed just after the name of the person, place, or thing (also known as a noun) that owns it, and before the “s” that indicates possession. Because the English language can describe various types of possession with glorious profusion, here are some helpful tips for common possession scenarios:

Your word already ends in “s”. Don’t add another ‘s’! Let the apostrophe hang at the end of the word. For example: horse bridles, a party at the Edwards.

Two nouns have one thing. Give the apostrophe to the last noun. For example: Joe and Angela’s herb garden.

Two nouns have two things. Give each noun an apostrophe. For example: Jenny and Jessie’s dresses.

You use a pronoun that has something. Please do not add an apostrophe. Leave him alone. For example: we gave the cat the injections; the idea was yours.

Second use of Apostrophe: apostrophes show where letters have been removed from a word or words. This is the easiest part to remember: if you have lost letters, put an apostrophe where the letters should have been. For example: Cannot becomes cannot; Four on the clock turns to four; 2007 becomes ’07.

Third use of Apostrophe: in some rare and very special cases, the apostrophe may show a plural. Use an apostrophe if you are talking about plurals of numbers or letters. For example: 1990; PhDs.

You can also add an apostrophe if you are using words as words, where omitting an apostrophe would cause confusion. For example: Rules are a list of dos and don’ts (if there is no apostrophe after “do”, people might mistake it for the acronym for the DOS disk operating system).

Other uses of the apostrophe: Apostrophes can also be used as a symbol to measure in feet. Also, the apostrophe can be used to indicate a quote within a quote. For example: She said, “The pastor told me, ‘Jesus was not white,’ and I was surprised!”

Understanding the proper rules for using the apostrophe will add a level of professionalism to your communications. Proper punctuation is a must for all writers. Am I still confused? Pearl Writing Services is a freelance writing business that can polish your writing and get your communications noticed.

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