{"id":1556,"date":"2014-06-03T15:29:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T21:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=1556"},"modified":"2020-11-25T10:32:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T16:32:52","slug":"apostrophes-not-always-possessive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/apostrophes\/apostrophes-not-always-possessive\/","title":{"rendered":"Apostrophes: Not Always Possessive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apostrophes\u2019 chief purpose is to show possession, but these marks have other functions, too. They alert readers when, and where, one or more letters are missing from a word, such as the no<\/em> that is dropped when cannot<\/em> becomes can\u2019t<\/em>. Or they create separation to avoid confusion when two elements are combined for special reasons. For example, in When Colin writes a\u2019s, they look like u\u2019s<\/em>, the apostrophes prevent us from thinking that the writer meant as<\/em> and us<\/em>. It\u2019s hard to imagine any credible writer not using apostrophes for a\u2019s<\/em> and u\u2019s<\/em>, but beyond that, apostrophe unanimity is hard to find.<\/p>\n

Apostrophes have a complicated relationship with plurals. Different writers have different approaches when writing the plural forms of abbreviations, some letters and numbers, and words that do not normally take plurals.<\/p>\n

\u2022 What\u2019s the plural of an abbreviation with periods, like Ph.D.<\/em>? There\u2019s no right answer. Some write Ph.D.s<\/em>, some write Ph.D.\u2019s<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Most writers use apostrophes when pluralizing single capital letters (I earned three A\u2019s<\/em>), but there are some who would write three As<\/em>. With groups of two or more capital letters, apostrophes seem less necessary (two new MPs<\/em>, learn your ABCs<\/em>), but some writers insist on them.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Single-digit numbers are usually spelled out, but when they aren\u2019t, you are just as likely to see 2s and 3s <\/em>as 2\u2019s and 3\u2019s<\/em>. With double digits and above, many (but not everyone) regard the apostrophe as superfluous. Most writers nowadays favor the 1900s<\/em>, but some go with the 1900\u2019s<\/em>. If numerals are used to identify decades, the \u201930s<\/em> is widely used, but you will also see the 30\u2019s<\/em>, and occasionally even the \u201930\u2019s<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A keyboard caveat: it takes extra effort to generate an apostrophe when it is the first character in numbers or words like the \u201930s<\/em> or \u2019tis <\/em>(for \u201cit is\u201d). If you\u2019re not careful, you\u2019ll instead type an opening single quotation mark (\u2018<\/strong>), which is a backward and upside-down apostrophe. The result will be the<\/em> \u201830s<\/em> and \u2018tis<\/em>, which finicky readers consider an indefensible lapse.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Making words plural with \u2019s<\/em> is usually a big mistake, but some writers, as a courtesy to readers, will add \u2019s<\/em> to words that don\u2019t ordinarily become plural, as in no if\u2019s, and\u2019s, or but\u2019s<\/em>, or here are some do\u2019s and don\u2019t\u2019s<\/em>. Since two apostrophes in one word look clunky, you are more likely to see do\u2019s and don\u2019ts<\/em>, which looks better, although don\u2019ts<\/em> is inconsistent with do\u2019s<\/em>. A better option might be to use italics to establish differentiation: no if<\/em>s, and<\/em>s, or but<\/em>s; some do<\/em>s and don\u2019t<\/em>s.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Let\u2019s close with a possessive-apostrophe principle that confuses a lot of people. For the plurals of familiar compound nouns like driver\u2019s license <\/em>and master\u2019s degree<\/em>, the apostrophe stays the same; the plurals are driver\u2019s licenses<\/em> and master\u2019s degrees<\/em>. You may ask why not drivers\u2019 licenses<\/em>\u2014after all, we\u2019re talking about more than one driver, aren\u2019t we? Well, yes and no. The driver\u2019s <\/em>in two driver\u2019s licenses <\/em>denotes that each license was issued to one driver only. The same reasoning applies to master\u2019s degrees<\/em>.<\/p>\n

No punctuation mark causes more confusion and dissent than apostrophes. If we could get together on the rules, maybe people would use them more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Find the incorrect sentence(s).<\/p>\n

1. You used too many ands in that paragraph.
\n2. Today\u2019s multiplication exercise will focus on 6\u2019s and 7\u2019s.
\n3. The decade of the \u201880s was marked by scandals.
\n4. In her note, the Ls all looked like Es.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Three of the sentences would be acceptable to at least some editors and publishers. The one incorrect sentence is No. 3: The decade of the \u2018<\/strong>80s was marked by scandals. Make it \u2019<\/strong>80s<\/em>, with an apostrophe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apostrophes\u2019 chief purpose is to show possession, but these marks have other functions, too. They alert readers when, and where, one or more letters are missing from a word, such as the no that is dropped when cannot becomes can\u2019t. Or they create separation to avoid confusion when two elements are combined for special reasons. […]<\/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":[32,16,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abbreviations","category-apostrophes","category-possessives"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556"}],"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=1556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}