Apostrophes 6.4 Flashcards
Apostrophes
Are used to indicate possession and to mark missing letters in contractions
Possessive apostrophes
Where it’s placed depends on the noun being modified
- singular nouns place them between the end of the word and the -s
- regular plural nouns they come after the -s
Apostrophes and words ending in -s
There are two accepted methods.
-simulate noun rule
Ex/
I love to tousle Socrates’s beard.
-or leave out the additional -s
Ex/
I love to tousle Socrates’ beard.
Check style guide and consistency.
Misuse
Ex/
I love to tousle Socrate’s beard
Apostrophe error with Possessive pronoun
Do not need an apostrophe.
Misuse
Ex/
The lion roared. And saw it’s teeth!
It’s is a contraction of it is
Shared possession/compound possession and apostrophes
Depends whether the writer is referring to something co-owned or two people who posses the same type of thing.
-Co-ownership only use one apostrophe
Ex/
We listened to Kate and Pete’s speech at the conference.
- separate ownership of some type of thing, we would need to indicate possession twice.
Ex/
We listened to Kate’s and Pete’s speeches at the conference.
Temporal expressions and apostrophes
(Expressions that denote time)
With single units of time, the apostrophe comes before the -s.
Ex/
She was glad to have finished the day’s work.
With plural units of time, it comes after the -s at the end of the word.
Ex/
I am owed two weeks’ pay.
^^errors are common in the plurals^^
When temporal expression is followed by of, no apostrophe is used.
Ex/
In my three years of experience as a proofreader, I have seen many punctuation errors.
Possessive Vs. Attributive nouns and apostrophes
Attributive nouns function as adjectives.
Ex/
Potato peel
Potato works as an adjective and modifies peel.
The potato peel
Not
The potato’s peel
That would be unusual.
For plural attributive nouns usually include an apostrophe.
Ex/
Listeners’ panel
Apostrophes and contractions
Watch out for missing apostrophes here
Ex/
It is - it’s
It has - it’s
Not
Possessive its
Cannot not can not
Contractions are considered informal. I’m formal writing check they are written out in full.
Apostrophes in plurals misuse
Grocer’s apostrophe
Ex/
Apple’s twenty cents
Is wrong
Apples twenty cents
Is correct
Common misuse
- words that in a vowel (e.g. cappuccino’s instead of cappuccinos)
- I OA Liam’s (e.g. CD’s instead of CDs)
- numbers and years (e.g. 1960’s instead of 1960s)
- non-nouns used as nouns (e.g. if’s and but’s instead of ifs and buts)
Plurals of letters and apostrophes
Using apostrophes in plural is normally incorrect, they are sometimes used to form plural of lowercase letters.
Ex/
Don’t forget your p’s and q’s!
Or
Don’t forget you Ps and Qs!
Stylistic choice
