How to Use the Apostrophe

A man once said to me that the world can be divided into two types of person: those who can use the apostrophe and those who can’t.

Alas, it occurs to me now (many years too late) that this is true of anything… perhaps a suitable counter would have been something like: the world can also be divided into those who tell others about dividing the world based on something so trivial as an apostrophe, and those who don’t! Or, if that’s too much of a mouthful, then maybe just “Your Mum!” …although as a response this does lack a certain sophistication…

Still, the apostrophe remains a basic part of the English language and, in my experience at least, is a one that is very often poorly explained.

So, for any who are still reading, here is my guide on how to use the apostrophe! (Note that this should never be confused with an apothecary, which is a far more interesting concept…)

Also, please note that this article is in no way intended to be patronising! You will not have to look very far into my own articles to find an infinite variety of errors and oversights, and I am not yet arrogant enough to be able to state that I never misuse an apostrophe; in this I merely wish to share my own aims with you, namely: to minimise grammatical abominations!

The apostrophe manifests itself thus: ‘ (which, I accept, is a widely known fact).

There are three main uses of the apostrophe (in fact there are many more, as I did not use the word “correct” in the first part of this sentence):

1. To indicate possession.
2. To indicate the omission of a letter.
3. To pluralise symbols or abbreviations.

I will expand on these three instances below:

1. An apostrophe as an indication of possession

This is simply a case of adding ‘s to the end of the noun (person or thing) doing the owning. For example: John’s house; Wallbank’s articles (not rude!); the dog’s bone; the tree’s branches.
The one and only additional point here is that if the possessing noun already ends in an s then only an apostrophe is added to the word. For example: Jess’ phone; my boss’ desk, and so on. This is exactly the same for plurals, for example: the ladies’ toilets (odd that this is what first came to mind!), the countries’ leaders, the cats’ water bowl etc.
To summarise:

• If the word doesn’t end in an s, add ‘s to indicate possession.
• If the word does end in an s (for whatever reason), add only ‘ to indicate possession.

2. An apostrophe instead of a letter

Are you too lazy to write out full words all the time? Me too… so we can unleash the apostrophe, the great tool of lethargy!

In many cases words can be shortened or joined together by omitting letters and using the apostrophe where the omissions have taken place.

By example then, as this is the easiest way: “we are” becomes “we’re”; “you are” becomes “you’re”, (NEVER to be confused with “your”); “there is” can be shortened to “there’s”. These shortenings are all perfectly acceptable in terms of grammar.

Colloquialisms are common enough too: “because” can be seen as ‘cos; “it is” or “it was” can be compacted to ‘tis or ‘twas, although this is somewhat archaic.

Get the idea?

The only complications I know of are with the words “its” and “it’s”. In this case “its” indicates possession and “it’s” is short for “it is”…somebody had to make the choice and that’s just how it turned out, I guess!

3. To pluralise symbols or abbreviation

The easiest use, requiring very little thought.

If you have an abbreviation or a symbol that you wish to make plural just add ‘s: “cm goes to “cm’s”; X goes to X’s (where X can be any symbol at all); MMT becomes MMT’s (a very important abbreviation that you should all be familiar with).

I hope this has been helpful… and now I never expect to see another “your” where a “you’re” should have been, or a “James’s hat” instead of a “James’ hat” (though this latter example would be acceptable if more than one James could claim ownership to the same hat…)!