Newsflash: apostrophes are not optional. If they ever become so, the writer-reader relationship will be one step closer to dysfunctional. Still, many casual scribblers would rather not be bothered.<\/p>\n
Apostrophes are a lot easier for those who slow down and do what it takes to get them right. For instance, to show possession with singular nouns that don\u2019t end in s<\/em>, all you have to do is add \u2019s<\/em> (girl\u2019s<\/em>, farm\u2019s<\/em>, love\u2019s<\/em>). Most people can handle that. Admittedly, trouble arises with certain other kinds of nouns. We will deal with some of those problems in weeks to come.<\/p>\n Today we\u2019ll examine <\/span>singular nouns that end in s<\/em>, with lens<\/em>, cactus<\/em>, and series <\/em>as examples. Such words <\/span>can become confusing when they are made plural, then made possessive.<\/p>\n To form the singular possessive form of a word like lens<\/em>, just add \u2019s<\/em>: the lens\u2019s reflection<\/em>. But how about more than one lens\u2019s reflection? The key rule is this: To show possession with a plural noun ending in s<\/em>, add only an apostrophe<\/strong>. You can\u2019t go wrong if you take this in two steps. First write the plural, lenses<\/em>. Then add an apostrophe \u2026 and there you are: the lenses\u2019 reflection<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s different with cactus<\/em>, because the plural is cacti<\/em>. The key rule is this: To show possession with a plural noun not ending in s<\/em>, add \u2019s<\/strong>. So, depending on your meaning, you would write either the cactus\u2019s spines <\/em>for one cactus* or the cacti\u2019s spines<\/em> for two or more cacti.<\/p>\n Now consider series<\/em>, which is the same word whether singular or plural. If a scientist has conducted a sequence of lab experiments, we would write about the series\u2019s outcome<\/em>. Because we mean one series, we add \u2019s<\/em>, just as we would do with any singular noun.*<\/p>\n But what if the scientist then ran another cycle of tests and compared it to the first? Then we\u2019d be reporting on the two series\u2019 results<\/em>. Because we mean more than one series, we add only an apostrophe to series<\/em>, just as we would do with any plural noun ending in s<\/em>.<\/p>\n *Note<\/strong>: Although we endorse an \u2019s<\/em> for all possessive singular nouns ending in s<\/em>, not everyone agrees. Some writers and editors add only an apostrophe: the bus\u2019 route<\/em>, my boss\u2019 orders<\/em>.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the Associated Press Stylebook<\/em>, which generally backs the \u2019s <\/em>but prescribes only an apostrophe when the word that follows begins with an s<\/em>. This means that the Associated Press would recommend the cactus\u2019s needles<\/em>, but also the cactus\u2019 spines<\/em> because of the first s <\/em>in spines<\/em>.<\/p>\n Does that seem odd to you, too?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. That specie\u2019s\/species\u2019\/species\u2019s status was changed to endangered.<\/p>\n 2. McDermott is the people\u2019s\/peoples\u2019 choice.<\/p>\n 3. Those company\u2019s\/companies\u2019\/companie\u2019s profits are way up.<\/p>\n 4. Her many dress\u2019s\/dress\u2019\/dresses\u2019 hangers were strewn around the room.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. That species\u2019s<\/strong> status was changed to endangered. (but some would endorse species\u2019<\/em>)<\/p>\n 2. McDermott is the people\u2019s<\/strong> choice.<\/p>\n 3. Those companies\u2019<\/strong> profits are way up.<\/p>\n 4. Her many dresses\u2019<\/strong> hangers were strewn around the room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Newsflash: apostrophes are not optional. If they ever become so, the writer-reader relationship will be one step closer to dysfunctional. Still, many casual scribblers would rather not be bothered. Apostrophes are a lot easier for those who slow down and do what it takes to get them right. For instance, to show possession with singular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,34,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apostrophes","category-possessives","category-singular-vs-plural"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}