Apostrophic Apostrophe?

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Apostrophic Apostrophe?

Posted on November 19th, 2008 in Grammar by Lucas Dié

Many writers, and I don’t mean specifically Triond writers, seem to have lost the touch for properly used apostrophes in English. Is this apostrophe’s demise? Or should I rather say apostrophes demise?

Normally when feeling unsure about the use of a turn of phrase, you would go and look it up in Shakespeare. But the apostrophe is a migrant newly arrived, a fledgling of a mere 150 years use. Is it a wonder that even 50 per cent of teachers don’t properly use it? But as I as a reader find it most annoying to have to puzzle out the meaning of a paragraph because there are no apostrophes or weirdly placed ones, I try as writer to use them correctly.

If you stick to basics, it’s actually quite simple, once you memorized the rules. The word apostrophe is Greek in origin and translates to elision, i.e. leaving out something or turning away. That is the main point of the apostrophe then, to take the place of a letter being left out.

If you write: I don’t use apostrophes; then you have shortened do not to don’t, the apostrophe takes the place of the lost o. That is easy enough to follow. So when setting an apostrophe, always reason out with yourself which letter you left out, and you shouldn’t get too many wrong anymore.

The trouble usually starts when using the apostrophe to denominate possession. Everybody feels comfortable to state: It’s the boy’s bike; when referring to the bike of a boy. But somehow there is a fuse gone off in brains when boy’s suddenly is used as a plural. These are still boys, and I don’t see a letter being left out either, or do you?

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Now if the boy’s name is James, it becomes: It’s James’ bike. The apostrophe is there to denominate possession. And it doesn’t take a second one to replace the lost s at the end either, one is quite enough. The same goes for plurals: These are the boys’ bikes; this quite clearly states that the bikes belong to several boys. Whereas: These are the boy’s bikes; means that several bikes belong to one boy.

To make this more useable: Your first question when applying an apostrophe should be: Which letter did I leave out? If you didn’t leave a letter out or you just can’t answer the question, your second question should be: Does the object mentioned after the apostrophized word belong to that person or entity? If the question again is answered negative, then there shouldn’t be an apostrophe at all.

Maybe this will help to eliminate things like CD’s or DVD’s. I don’t know what belongs to a CD or a DVD, but the plural would be CDs and DVDs. If now you should feel confused enough already, don’t read the next paragraphs.

There are uses of the apostrophe outside the rules. Please read the following three examples and then decide which one is correctly using the apostrophes: a) Dos and don’ts; b) Do’s and don’ts; c) Do’s and don’t’s.

According to the rules I stated above, a) is correct as these are plurals and don’t need any apostrophes. But quite frankly, when I was presented these three possibilities, I didn’t understand a) at all until I had read b). But b) is wrong not only because it’s not according to the rules by inserting the apostrophe in dos, it’s also inconsistent by not inserting it into don’t as well. As to c), there are certain language specialists who tend to declare c) the right choice by citing the phrase: Do you dot your i’s? Rather than writing: Do you dot your is?

I can’t really give a final answer to it. My mother taught me a), and I always struggled with the reading. Whereas b) somehow looks readable but not sensible. The spelling in c) looks a bit over the top to me, and the reference to i’s to me sounds incorrect, as i is a single letter and not a word. At least you know now why this article was not named The Dos and Don’ts When Using Apostrophes.

But if you stick to the basics, that will help a lot. If in addition you keep there, their, and they’re where they belong, you’ll manage pretty everything in writing. Just remember not to use apostrophes as you would use garnish in a salad.

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Tags: Apostrophe, apostrophes, basics, demise, letter, possession, Writers

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24 Responses to “Apostrophic Apostrophe?”

lindalulu
November 19th, 2008 at 9:27 am

Thanks Lucas…I will have to try and make a point of using them.
joystick7
November 19th, 2008 at 9:55 am

I will too..
Debra.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:16 am

Me too.
Lucas Dié
November 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am

Oh dear, you all make me feel the teacher

Actually I was mainly annoyed at the newspapers … they just can’t write straight English anymore these days.

Apart from my eternal favorites: CD’s and DVD’s SALE!; Banana’s kilo £1.63; Martini’s Dry …
sue mcverry
November 19th, 2008 at 10:50 am

Where I live we also have tomato’s and potato’s. Drives me mad. Glad I’m not the only grump around here.
Lauren Axelrod
November 19th, 2008 at 11:01 am

Thanks for the lesson Lucas. I try to stick to the rules most of the time but, sometimes I have fast fingers
Lucas Dié
November 19th, 2008 at 11:13 am

Sue, I think a good gripe about the newspapers is most exhilarating.

Lauren, don’t we all?
Inna Tysoe
November 19th, 2008 at 3:03 pm

Thanks for presenting apostrophes in a fun way!

Inna
Lucas Dié
November 19th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Thanks Inna … just found a mistake I made when re-reading the article … I lost an s in don’ts at one point

Fix it … sigh
Brian Daniel Stankich
November 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

Lucas, thanks for the English lesson. Unfortunately, I speak American, and we don’t reference Shakespeare for proper usage (do we?). Well, at least I d’o'n’t!

Brian
Geri OHara
November 19th, 2008 at 4:49 pm

Excellent article, I can’t say I always get it right 100% but sometimes when there are glaringly obvious mistakes it irritates me to (specially in papers)
Popo the busdriver
November 19th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

actually b) is right. There are special rules of pluralization like goose to geese and do’s is one of them. When you are dealing with a short word (1-3) letters that ends in a vowel like do, and I you add the apostrophie. This rule is very tricky though since words like ore don’t follow it. I think it;s safe to say i’m right about do’s though.
Popo the busdriver
November 19th, 2008 at 6:58 pm

oops, I only read the part about do’s. I don’t know about the apostrophization (fun word) of don’t’s,. but Im almost certain im right about Do’s
Lucas Dié
November 19th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

LOL, Brian, I think I am 2 tired 2nite 2 discuss that

Popo, I think your two comments are most valuable, because the just sum up the problems we all have with the exceptions to the rules with their exceptions …

To go with Geri, I also miss out on one or the other, but sticking to the basics helps
Will
November 19th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

the short word dilemma is why I prefer to write “i”s and “do”s and “don’t”s
Darlene McFarlane
November 19th, 2008 at 7:55 pm

Thanks for the refresher course, Lucas. It has been many years since I learned this in school.

It is very clearly written so anyone can understand.

Thanks
Lucas Dié
November 19th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

Will, my escape is usually going for another phrasing

Thank you Darlene, I tried to stick as closely as I could remeber to what my mother told me when teaching me my letters. The early lessons always stay best in mind, anyhow.

And I tried to remember, but I think it was Nancy Mitford who insisted on version a) …
Paula Mitchell Bentley
November 19th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

What a great refresher course! I to have pet peeves about spelling/grammar mistakes — not that I’m immune to it of course. No one’s perfect.
Lucas Dié
November 20th, 2008 at 4:28 am

Thank you, Paula. Don’t we all?
David Irvine
November 20th, 2008 at 10:18 am

I still dont understand any of it. I think correct format is based on personal opinion. If you can read it and make sense of it, then f*@k it. lol

however,

great read.
Lucas Dié
November 20th, 2008 at 10:37 am

LOL – remind me never to eat any salad you made
John Karlis
November 25th, 2008 at 2:33 pm

Nice article. I think it should be mandatory reading before anyone posts on Triond. It’s one of the most annoying writing mistakes I see. But it’s not just here, it’s everywhere. I even have seen the mistakes on the evening news broadcasts where the headlines put apostrophes where they don’t belong. Thanks for the lesson.
Lucas Dié
November 25th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Thanks John. I didn’t know they knew how to write in TV
CorinaR
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:36 am

So informative and helpful, Lucas. I try my best to stick to the rules as well, and I think I pretty much have the apostrophies down pat (that is, until you threw in the i’s vs. is dilemma – I have to admit that I would write i’s so as not to confuse the reader.) Years ago, I took a Business English and Communications course, and it was probably the best course I’ve ever taken… not to mention the most useful in everyday life. Now if I could only remember a bit more about the rules for the comma, the semi-colon and the colon. ;p

Thanks again for a very informative article.