The poor, abused apostrophe! If there is a single punctuation mark that is used incorrectly most often, it must be this one. Simple rules to help:
Contractions
The apostrophe takes the place of the character(s) removed:
- don’t
- hold ’em
- a ’copter
- the ’70s (BUT the 1970s)
Possessives
I could go on for days about this one. But in general, begin with the noun—singular or plural—and make it possessive. Usually, this means just adding ’s for singular or only ’ for plural.
Singular:
JMG’s story
A student’s homework
The witness’s testimony
Steve Jones’ company
Plural:
Our clients’ stories
The students’ homework
The witnesses’ testimony
The Joneses’ company
However, it’s the exceptions where we get in trouble. Here are just a few:
- Dolores’ office
- One person’s vote (the people’s voice)
- Misty and Whitney’s clients (they have the same clients)
- Misty’s and Whitney’s clients (they have separate clients)
Possessive pronouns DO NOT take an apostrophe: hers, his, its, ours, theirs, yours.
This one gets misused all the time:
- 10 years’ experience (BUT 10 years of experience)
- two weeks’ notice
Plurals of Letters, Figures, Words Used As Words
Most are now made plural without the apostrophe, unless needed for clarity:
- don’ts, ma’ams (no second apostrophe needed for plurals)
- three A’s (BUT when context is clear: three As, two Bs and one C.)
- dotting the i’s
- p’s and q’s
- pj’s
- which’s and that’s
Verb Forms of Letters and Unusual Words
Last, but not least: Trademarks
I'm sure you all know this one, but a reminder never hurts!
- Trademarks are adjectives not nouns; NEVER make them possessive or plural unless that is the correct form of the trademark or it is specifically allowed as part of a client’s graphic standards.
Don’t forget to include any unusual names or terms with apostrophes in your clients’ style sheets! (You ARE working on those, aren’t you?)
For more examples and some good laughs: http://www.apostrophecatastrophes.com/