Apostrophes | wwword

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Right
Apostrophes do two distinct jobs: they take the place of omitted letters, as in it’s for it is and don’t for do not; and they show that a noun is being used possessively, such as in a children’s book or the Obamas’ dog Bo.

Wrong
Apostrophes don’t belong in possessive pronouns, like its, as in The dog licked its lips (does it mean it is? If not, no apostrophe!), hers, ours, etc., or in ordinary plural nouns that end in s, like He owns a lot of hotel’s (no—it’s hotels), or The gatecrashers greeted the Obama’s warmly (no—they’re the Obamas)!

And that’s (that is!) that. Easy.

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Eric Hanson

* Plurals that don’t end in an s—“women,” “children,” “men”—add an apostrophe before an s to become possessive: “women’s movement,” “children’s playground,” “men’s wear.”

* Apostrophe in Greek means "turning away"—and, by extension, omission. So until a few hundred years ago, it was used in English only to show that a letter or letters were dropped: I'm, isn't, wouldn't, they've, 'tis. Sometime in the 17th century, grammarians decided that we didn't have enough rules to remember, and put apostrophes to work to show that a noun was being used possessively: the dog's dinner, the kids' homework.

* Cheer up! The Oxford Companion to English Literature says, “There never was a golden age in which the rules for the possessive pronoun were clear-cut and known, understood and followed by most educated people.”

* A retired British soldier has been waging a one-man war against missing apostrophes in street signs in his hometown of Tunbridge Wells, in Kent. Paintbrush in hand, he stole out to the corner and went to work on signs for "St. Johns Close," changing them to read "St. John's Close."

* Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Read “The Tractable Apostrophe” and laugh at the absurdity of it all.