The Apostrophe Wars

Whether English is your first language or your second, I'm guessing the apostrophe has tripped you up at some point. We have all been taught the basics of apostrophe usage in possessives (Maren's post) and in contractions (it's a blog). However, this little dangling air comma wreaks havoc on our writing – from Instagram posts to legal documents. It's just a little troublemaker, and the trouble is usually associated with the letter "s". If the apostrophe has always been one of those punctuation marks that you've never really figured out, hopefully this post can help. Fix your apostrophe errors, and your writing will look ten times more professional!

So let's get back to basics as well as look at some common apostrophe errors. Take a look at these sentences:

"He's on his way." "She's going to be there." "It's going to be a great party."

You're probably rolling your eyes right now, but let's work through it from the beginning. In these sentences, the subjects (He/She/It) are working with the same verb (be) and the same conjugation of the verb (is). So these are all contractions of subject + is, and they need an apostrophe. Easy peasy, right? Moving on.

If there is one error you can and must clean up, it's the misused apostrophe for pluralizing a noun.

Here's an example:

"Look at the photo's I just posted." (𝖷)

This is the stuff of my nightmares. I see it so often, and it is just wrong. Most nouns are pluralized by simply adding "-s" or "-es," so the sentence should read:

"Look at the photos I just posted." (✓)

Just to be clear, let's do another example:

"That restaurant has awesome mojito's." (𝖷)

Never ever do this, I'm begging you.

"That restaurant has awesome mojitos." (✓)

The possessive pronoun "its" often trips people up, but it really shouldn't. Have a look at this sentence:

"The dog was wagging its tail." (✓)

All too often, we see this:

"The dog was wagging it's tail." (𝖷)

The problem with the second sentence is that we would never say, "The dog was wagging it is tail." To get the apostrophe in the right place, you have to understand whether your talking about a possessive (the tail belongs to the dog) or a contraction (which doesn't make sense here). The word "its" is a possessive pronoun which means it will never take an apostrophe. Other examples of possessive pronouns are his, her and their. You'll remember learning that a pronoun replaces a noun, so if you notice whether the sentence is using a noun or a pronoun, that should help you with when to use an apostrophe. Here's an example:

"The woman held up the dog's leash." (✓)

Here, "dog" is a noun, so the apostrophe + s makes a possessive (the leash belonging to the dog).

"The dog wagged its tail." (✓)

In this example, "its" is the possessive pronoun replacing "the dog," so no apostrophe is needed.

Other hurdles the apostrophe and its accomplice "s" will throw at you have to do with plural nouns describing mankind. Think about it, how many times have you hesitated in your writing when faced with the words: children, women, men and people? All of these words are already pluralized, so they will never need an additional "s" for the sake of numbers. The only apostrophe you'll need for these nouns will be the one forming the plural possessive:

"The children's virtual classroom was delightful." (The virtual classroom that belongs to the children)

Now we've arrived at that apostrophe that hangs off the end of a word like it's about to go base jumping – that dreaded "s apostrophe." For most plural nouns, this would be where the base-jumping "s" would work. Remember, most nouns are pluralized by adding "-s" or "-es," so this is different from irregular plural nouns such as children, women, men and people. Stay with me. This is stuff you know:

"The dogs' tails were wagging." (All the tails of all the dogs)

"The kids' excitement is infectious." (The excitement of all the kids)

One relatively frustrating snag often occurs with singular proper nouns ending in "s". My maiden name is Forbes, so this is a perfect example. In my family, we have always used the base-jumping "s" when forming a possessive for our name:

"Maren Forbes' sentences were often too long."

However, this is where style guides come in – APA, MLA, Chicago, AP, CP as well as several others used in the U.K. Depending on whether you're writing an academic or a journalistic piece, this is where the apostrophe gets in the boxing ring. So, much to the Forbes' chagrin (see what I did there?), some style guides will recommend this:

"Maren Forbes's sentences were often too long."

Then there's the whole Forbes clan! Goodness, there are threads upon threads online of people arguing about how to create the plural possessive of my maiden name. I've seen: Forbes', Forbeses and Forbes's. This is where you have to refer to whichever style guide is expected for your particular writing purpose.

What's the takeaway from all this? First of all, this is just a snippet. There are several more instances of apostrophe usage to be considered. However, the everyday apostrophe should be more or less easy for you to clean up and will follow the same rules from one style guide to the next. If you write a lot, either for your studies or for work, it is always a good idea to have your particular style guide close by. There are some apostrophes that just want to pick a fight. Most of them are friendly, though, and are just begging to be used correctly.

Comment below if you've been tripped up by an apostrophe recently!