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.)

• 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