The Rights and Wrongs of Apostrophes (’)

 Definition:

Punctuation mark, a superscript symbol, meant to indicate the possessive form of a word or the absence of letters, such as in a contraction.

Uses:

1. By adding an apostrophe to a singular or plural noun, the noun becomes possessive. It signifies that something belongs to the subject. Proper use follows a few rules.

To determine whether or not an apostrophe should be added, conduct a simple test that turns the phrase around to be “of the...” subject. 

• The teacher’s book or “The book of the teacher.” (OK)
• The courier’s messenger bag or “The messenger bag of the courier.” (OK)
• The car’s door or “The door of the car.” (not)

In the third example, the car did not have to take on the possessive form because the noun after “of the” was one of three exceptions for the “of the...” test: a building, an object, or furniture piece. Rather, it can simply be written as “the car door” to signify the door belongs to the car.

1.a. As for applying the apostrophe, it is placed in different parts of the possessive form. This is determined by the noun being either singular or plural. For singular words, add an “’s” to the end, even if the final letter is an “s.” 

• The cat’s fur was golden with dark tabby markings.
• Lois’s newspaper article made the front page.

1.b. For plural words that end in “s,” simply add an apostrophe. 

• The horses’ bridles were adorned with flowers.

1.c. For plural words that do not end in “s,” add an “’s” just like singular words. 

• The Meredith children’s academic skills were well-known.
• The club chose “Jane Eyre” as their next book.

1.d. Similarly, an “’s” is added to the end of compound words and the last noun of a joint possession. 

• mother-in-law’s
• Anne and Gilbert’s

2. As for contractions, replace missing letters with an apostrophe; but remember that it’s where the letters no longer are, which is not always where the words are joined. An example would be “is not” and “isn’t.” 

• I am = I’m
• They are = They’re
• Do not = Don’t
• Would not = Wouldn’t
• She is = She’s

Misuse:

The placement of an apostrophe, if misplaced, could be glaring. For example, if one is placed in the incorrect place for a contraction, it stands out: “would’nt.”