I’m about to lose my mind. Seriously.
I’ve talked about this on my blog before, but I just can’t let this go. Nope. I just can’t.
It probably comes from being a writer, but all this Apostrophe madness is making me Nuts. Yes. With a capital ‘N’.
What is Apostrophe Madness, you say? Well, it’s this:
- It’s isn’t Its, and Its isn’t It’s. It’s with an apostrophe is a contraction and is the short form for it is or it has. Its without an apostrophe is the possessive pronoun of it. Examples:
- It’s
- It’s raining outside. (Because you can say It is raining outside.)
- I think it’s a terrible idea. (Because you can say I think it is a terrible idea.)
- Oh man, it’s been a long day. (Because you can say Oh man, it has been a long day.)
- Its
- The cat ate its food. (Because you can’t say The cat ate it is food.)
- The tree loses its leaves in the Fall. (Because you can’t say The tree loses it is leaves in the Fall.)
- It’s
-
If you are talking about plurals (nouns that are more than one), no apostrophe is needed. Examples:
- Grills for sale. (NOT Grill’s for sale).
- I brought candles to the party. (NOT I brought candle’s to the party.)
- Temperature highs for today will be cooler than normal. (NOT Temperature high’s for today will be cooler than normal.)
- Acronyms don’t use an apostrophe either, with one exception. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, “If you can stop thinking of the spelled-out meaning of the acronym and just treat the acronym itself as a word with its own meaning, you should be able to add that little s without fretting.” So read this carefully:
- IOUs (not IOU’s)
- MDs (not MD’s)
- RFPs (not RFP’s)
- The exception? If you have an acronym with periods, you’d use the apostrophe. In these cases having no apostrophe would look confusing because a period is normally viewed as the end of a sentence:
- P.A.’s (not C.P.A.s)
- M.D.’s (not M.D.s)
- C.C.J.’s (not C.C.J.s)
- First names that are plural don’t use an apostrophe. EVER. EVER. EVER. Names signify a noun, and pluralized nouns don’t use an apostrophe. Period. (I threw in a funny there. Did you catch it?). If your first name ends in “s, x, z, ch, sh”, you add an “es”. Examples:
- How many Annas are in your class? (NOT How many Anna’s are in your class?)
- There are a lot of Mikes in the world. (NOT There are a lot of Mike’s in the world.)
- I know three Riches at work. (NOT I know three Rich’s at work.)
- Last names that are plural don’t use an apostrophe. EVER. EVER. EVER. And if your last name ends in “s, x, z, ch, sh”, you add an “es”. Examples:
- Merry Christmas from the Millers. (NOT Merry Christmas from the Miller’s.)
- Happy New Year from the Joneses. (NOT Happy New Year from the Jones’s.)
- The Kennedys are hosting a party! (NOT The Kennedy’s are hosting a party!)
- Brand names don’t use an apostrophe if you’re talking about more than one. Examples:
- The plural of the Blackberry phone, for example, would be Blackberrys and NOT Blackberry’s.
- Likewise, you’d say, “I have two iPads” and NOT “I have two iPad’s”.
- And Victoria’s Secret really had a winner with Body, which would pluralize like this: Victoria’s Secret was showing off its Bodys (NOT Body’s).
- (And we won’t get into certain company trademarks here, a la Apple, which specify how the public is supposed to really pluralize their product – because people just don’t speak that way.)
- Numbers are simple: you never add an apostrophe to make them plural. So:
- He was born in the 1980s. (NOT He was born in the 1980’s).
- Clients in their 60s will benefit most from this program. (NOT Clients in their 60’s will benefit most from this program.)
- That airline is going to build more 747s. (NOT That airline is going to build more 747’s.)
There. I feel better now that I’ve gotten that off my chest.
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Filed under: Stories Behind The Stories Tagged: apostrophe abuse, English, grammar errors, grammar mistakes, punctuation, when to use an apostrophe, writing
This post first appeared on Terri Herman-Ponce | Twists, Turns, Past Lives And, please read the originial post: here