Apostrophe

Apostrophe errors often occur when the plural form and the possessive form are confused.
Additionally, apostrophes also tend to be used incorrectly with years.
Incorrect Joneses yard is much bigger than Smith's.
:

Incorrect My brother graduated from NIU in the early 1990's.

:
Correcting the Problem
Correct: Jones's yard is much bigger than Smith's.

Correct: My brother graduated from NIU in the early 1990s.

Rule to Remember
The apostrophe is used to indicate possessive case, contractions, and omitted letters.
The apostrophe is not strictly a punctuation mark, but more a part of a word to
indicate possessive case, contractions, or omitted letters.
Possessives
Apostrophes are used to form the possessive form of a singular noun or a plural noun not ending
in s by adding ' and an s at the end. If a plural noun ends in s, only ' should be added.
university's women's students'
Correct High school students' scores have been gradually improving over the last
: several years.
If ownership of something is shared, use 's after the second owner.
Correct: Bill and Ted's guitar
If ownership of something is separate, use 's after each owner.
Correct: Bill's and Ted's guitars
Rule to Remember
If ownership of something is shared, use 's after the second owner; otherwise, use 's after each
owner.
Contractions
A contraction is one word that is formed by combing two words. As the two words are
combined, a letter is (letters are) dropped and an apostrophe is added in its place. Usually, a
pronoun and a verb are used when forming contractions.
The following is a list of common contractions:
'd when contracting would or had (he'd)
'm when contracting am (I'm)
's when contracting is or has (she's)
'll when contracting will (I'll)
're when contracting are (they're)
've when contracting have (we've)
n't when negating some helping or linking verbs (wasn't, shouldn't)
Correct: They'll complete the assignment by tomorrow.
Not is used to form negative contractions with many linking verbs. When making a negative
contraction, omit the "o" in "not" and replace it with an apostrophe. The only exception to this
rule is will not which contracts to form won't.
Correct: Don't take my car!
Numbers and Omissions
Numbers can be shortened by adding an apostrophe in place of the omitted number.
Correct: the class of '07

Correct: events in the '60s

Be careful using abbreviations in formal writing. In most cases, it is best to spell the numbers out
or write them as full numerals.
Rule to Remember
Numbers can be shortened by adding an apostrophe in place of the omitted number.
Plurals of Letters, Words, Numbers, and Signs
An apostrophe and s are also used to form the plural of letters, numbers, signs, and words
referring to words.
 Correct: The word Mississippi has many s's.

Correct: Count incorrectly spelled accent's in your essay.

When Do You NOT Need an Apostrophe?
With time periods and after numbers
Incorrect The 1900's = the years between 1900-1999
:

Correct: The 1900s = the years between 1900-1999

Incorrect MP3's = more than one MP3

:

Correct: MP3s = more than one MP3

Rule to Remember
Do not add an apostrophe at the end of a number indicating a time period: 1960s, 1800s, etc.
After symbols:
Correct: *s = asterisks

Correct: #s = pounds/numbers
After abbreviations:
Correct: CDs = compact disks

Correct: DVDs = digital video (or versatile) disks

With possessive pronouns:
its, hers, his, theirs, my, mine, ours, yours, whose
Apostrophe use: Contractions and omissions
A contraction is a shortened form of a word or group of words that omits certain letters or
sounds. In a contraction, an apostrophe represents missing letters. The most common
contractions are made up of verbs, auxiliaries, or modals attached to other words: “He would” =
“He’d.” “I have” = “I’ve.” “They are” = “They’re.” “You cannot” = “You can’t.”
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Some writers use less common contractions when they want to represent a particular style of
speech. They might write somethin’ to represent the way people often don’t pronounce the
final g of something in speech. Occasionally, you might see e’er (instead of ever) in poetry. And,
of course, in the American South, you will probably encounter y’all (you all). Decade names are
often contracted as well: the ’60s (the 1960s).
Contraction Uncontracted Examples
-n’t not Isn’t (is not), hasn’t (has not)
-’re are They’re (they are), we’re (we are), you’re (you are)
-’d had, would She’d (she had, she would), I’d (I had, I would)
-’ll will We’ll (we will), you’ll (you will)
-’s is He’s (he is), it’s (it is)
I’m I am —
let’s let us —

Contractions are usually considered to be relatively casual. If you’re writing something very
formal, you may want to avoid using them except in cases like o’clock, where the full phrase (of
the clock) truly is rare.
Apostrophes and possessive nouns
The rules about forming possessive nouns probably cause the most apostrophe confusion. They
vary a bit, depending on what type of noun you are making into a possessive. Here are the rules
of thumb:
For most singular nouns, add -’s:
The dog’s leash
The writer’s desk
The planet’s atmosphere
For most plural nouns, add only an apostrophe:
The dogs’ leashes
The writers’ desks
The planets’ atmospheres
For plural nouns that do not end in s, add -’s:
The children’s toys
The geese’s migration route
Style guides vary in their recommendations of what to do to make a singular proper noun that
ends in s possessive. Some recommend adding only an apostrophe:
Charles Dickens’ novels
Kansas’ main airport
Others say to add -’s:
Charles Dickens’s novels
Kansas’s main airport
No matter which style you use, add only the apostrophe to plural proper nouns that end in s:
The Harrises’ house
The Smiths’ vacation
Use whichever style matches the style guide you use for your writing. If you don’t have a style
guide, it’s OK to just pick one of the methods, as long as you don’t switch back and forth within
the same document.
Apostrophes and possessive pronouns
Personal pronouns, unlike regular nouns, do not use apostrophes to form possessives. Most
writers don’t have trouble with the possessive pronouns my, mine, his, her, and our.
It’s your, yours, hers, its, ours, their, and theirs that tend to cause the confusion. The relative
possessive pronoun whose is also frequently the victim of apostrophe abuse. Note that none of
these forms use an apostrophe. In fact, for some of these pronouns, adding an apostrophe forms
a contraction instead of a possessive (see the table above).
Pronoun Possessive Pronoun Absolute (Independent) Form
me my mine
you your yours
he his his
her her hers
it its —
we our ours
them their theirs
who whose —
Apostrophes and joint possession
What do you do with the apostrophe when you’re talking about things that belong to more than
one person? When one thing belongs to two or more people jointly, make only the final name
possessive:
Bob and Jim’s bait shop (Bob and Jim co-own a bait shop.)
Ryan, Jessica, and Elinor’s parents (All three have the same parents.)
When you’re talking about separate things that belong to different people but you’re discussing
the things together, make all the names possessive:
Bob’s and Jim’s bait shops (Bob owns one bait shop, and Jim owns a different one.)
Ryan’s, Jessica’s, and Elinor’s parents (Each has a different set of parents)
Using possessive personal pronouns in joint constructions often sounds awkward (You have their
and my gratitude). Usually, the best solution is to rephrase the sentence to avoid the joint
construction (You have our gratitude or You have their gratitude and mine).
Apostrophes and plurals
Using an unnecessary apostrophe to form the plural of a noun is a very common mistake.
Sometimes, it’s called the grocer’s apostrophe because of how frequently it is spotted in grocery
store advertisements (3 orange’s for $1!). Don’t do it! With very few exceptions, apostrophes do
not make nouns plural.
The one notable exception to this rule is the plural form of lowercase letters, which are formed
with an apostrophe to prevent misreading:
Don’t forget to dot all your is.
Don’t forget to dot all your i’s.
Apostrophes with surrounding punctuation
An apostrophe is part of the word it belongs to, so it should not be separated from that word by
a period, a comma, a question mark, or any other punctuation mark.
Can I ask you somethin’?
“’Twas the night before Christmas,” he said.
In the second example, take note of the apostrophe at the beginning of ’twas. Apostrophes that
fall at the beginning of a contraction are often mistyped as left-hand single quotation marks,
when the apostrophe is actually identical to the right-hand single quotation mark. Word
processors tend to do this by default, as they assume you are beginning a quote. Keep this in
mind, especially when you are writing about specific decades, such as the ’60s or the ’90s.

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