How to use apostrophes

[richard black]

This has to be worth a try....

There seems to be an astonishing number of native English speakers here who don't know how to use the apostrophe (') or can't be bothered. This makes it harder to read their posts. Please try to remember the very simple rule: an apostrophe denotes a missing letter (or more than one), an abbreviation.

For example: it is becomes it's
you are = you're
they are = they're

It's actually the same for possessives, for example 'Richard's piano' is short for 'Richard, his piano'.

But the three possessive pronouns, his hers and its, do not have an apostrophe.

English lesson over....

[minor9th]

Not quite!

Never use an apostrophe to show plural forms! I frequently see "I own two piano's." 
Also, don't use one in dates: the "s" will suffice. 1960s
Don't use one with abbreviations. Instead, use capital letters followed by "s": DVDs, TVs, CDs, etc.*

* one possible exception is with letter grades. "I earned three A's and two B's." An apostrophe is permissible in most similar cases.

[john11inc]

Just so we're clear.  Half in jest, and half to be informative, thus leaving no room for interest in denigrating Richard.

This has to be worth a try....

An ellipsis (plural: ellipses) has three marks (dots), such as the one that ends this sentence . . .

It must contain, precisely, three marks.  It must have spaces between the marks, or a 1/5th-em short space, assuming you are typing on a manual typewriter or are using journalist unicode, to be in accordance with the Chicago and Associated Press Guides to Style.  Regarding spacing on either side of the ellipsis, the location of additional punctuation produces such an effect:

word . . . word
word. . ..
word. . ., word
word, . . . word
word. . .?
word. . .!

It's actually the same for possessives, for example 'Richard's piano' is short for 'Richard, his piano'.

However, apostrophes are not used to form a quotation.  It would be "Richard's piano" and "Richard, his piano."

As well, apostrophes are not used to denote plurality.  "Richard's pianos," and not, "the piano's of Richard."  I see that error more often than the other.

[john11inc]

One possible exception is with letter grades. "I earned three A's and two B's." An apostrophe is permissible in most similar cases.

In fact, it should be a's and b's, with the italics.

[Bob]

You can use apostrophes in a quote if it's a quote within a quote.

[minor9th]

In fact, it should be a's and b's, with the italics.

Where did you read that? This is from a college style page:

"grades[:] No quotation marks around letter. No italics, no boldface. For plural of any letter grade, use an apostrophe and an s (three A's, two B's, two I's.)"

[john11inc]

Where did you read that? This is from a college style page:

"grades[:] No quotation marks around letter. No italics, no boldface. For plural of any letter grade, use an apostrophe and an s (three A's, two B's, two I's.)"

https://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/grammarlogs/grammarlogs79.htm

They use the AP guide.

[djealnla]

I'm glad someone started a thread on this, I was thinking of doing so myself.

[djealnla]

An apostrophe is permissible in most similar cases.

Such as?

[djealnla]

It's actually the same for possessives, for example 'Richard's piano' is short for 'Richard, his piano'.

Shouldn't it read "the piano of Richard"? I've never heard of this rule, frankly.

[djealnla]

word . . . word

I prefer the Russian way of doing it:

„Днес… се представи на Н. Ц. Височество президент-министърът и министър на вътрешните дела г. д-р К. Стоил…“ (Алеко Константинов, „Бай Ганьо“)



In fact, I love Russian typography.

[djealnla]

This site is rather humorous, by the way:

https://www.apostropheabuse.com/

For example:

[djealnla]

This one is hilarious:



Although this one wins easily:

[thalbergmad]

What a load of bollock's

[djealnla]

What a load of bollock's

LOLOLOL

[minor9th]

Such as?

When listing grades or other entities that are identified by single letters. (I'm not sure what else they would be, but there are probably other such designations out there somewhere!)

[stevebob]

I'm glad someone started a thread on this, I was thinking of doing so myself.

Misuse of commas (like the comma splice in the example above) deserves its own discussion, but hey:

Its easier to put on slipper's, than to carpet the world.

Another recent trend is for apostrophes to be used in inflected verbs that end in the letter s:

She work's hard for the money.

I was surprised to find that common errors can even transfer from one language to another.  I once saw the following sign in an area of New York City where Spanish and English are used with equal frequency:

Arreglamo's todo tipo de cabello's.

And what about homonyms?  A proofreader who only corrected the confused usages of to and too (or their, there and they're) would be kept very busy.

[birba]

And here I thought all those postings were from foreigners who spoke English exceptionally well...

[djealnla]

Misuse of commas (like the comma splice in the example above) deserves its own discussion

How should it look?

[fleetfingers]

I'm glad someone started a thread on this, I was thinking of doing so myself.

How should it look?

I'm glad someone started a thread on this; I was thinking of doing so myself.

I'm glad someone started a thread on this, for I was thinking of doing so myself.

https://wire.rutgers.edu/p_grammar_comma2.html

[kevinr]

My favourite example was on a noticeboard I saw outside a pub in south London last year:

Upstairs room: Birthday Party for Andy Mill's

[richard black]

By order of the Sentral Offis of Litterassi, the letter s is now to be replaced by 's everywhere. 'Signed, the bo's's of the 'sentral offi's's. (Motto: Be more literater)

[thalbergmad]

My favourite example was on a noticeboard I saw outside a pub in south London last year:

Given the location, I am amazed that the notice was in English.

Thal

[pianowolfi]

What a load of bollock's

LOL'z 

[ch101]

it is like if you put it within a quote then it is acceptable for example :
 "schumann said, 'Hats off, a genius!' "