Apostrophe Bloomers
By Uma Shankari, 25th Jan 2011 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutWritingTips
Do you often get confused by apostrophes? You don't know when to use it's and when to use its? Here's help.
Apostrophe for indicating possession
I would have thought the use of apostrophe is so self-evident. But the transgression of its use all over the internet tells me otherwise.
One of the uses of apostrophe is to show ownership. For example, Uma's pen would indicate a pen that belongs to Uma. The company's logo and the dogs' shelter are other examples. For plural nouns ending in s, use apostrophe after the 's' to indicate possession — for example, The boys’ playground.
Sometimes, a singular noun may end in ’s’. Or, a noun may have an s-sounding ending. You may omit s after the apostrophe in such a case, as in Jesus’ story or Conscience’ constant calls of duty.
Words like his, hers, its and theirs are possessive pronouns. They have possession built into them already, so they do not need apostrophes.
The house over there is theirs, not yours.(no apostrophe in 'theirs' or 'yours')
The dog is playing with it's toy ball (use 'its' instead)
Apostrophe to indicate missing letters
It's common to find many people making wrong usage of it's and its. The confusion arises because apostrophe is also used to denote missing letters. I can't instead of I cannot (to indicate missing letters).
It's, with the apostrophe, is a contraction. It means "it is," and the apostrophe stands for the missing "i".
Similar to it's/its is the pair of words who's and whose.
Another use of apostrophe is to form plurals of letters, digits or phrases, as for example:
Don't forget to cross your t's
The chief guest spoke well, but filled his speech with you-know's
Comments
25th Jan 2011 (#)
A common mistake, well spoted and explained.
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25th Jan 2011 (#)
You got it!
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26th Jan 2011 (#)
It's a must-read for everyone!
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