Apostrophes

INDEX

Apostrophes

Apostrophes are used to indicate the possessive forms of nouns and indefinite pronouns; contractions; and the plurals of letters, abbreviations, and numbers. Except for plurals of letters, abbreviations, and numbers, it is incorrect and confusing to use apostrophes with plurals that are not possessives.

Possessives

To form the possessive of nouns ending in a letter other than s, add 's.:

• children's toys
• brother's keeper
• cat's paw

To form the possessive of singular nouns ending in s, you may either add 's or add only the apostrophe, whichever sounds the least awkward:

• boss's office
• press's inquiries
• Jones's strange career
• Jesus' teachings
• Moses' leadership

Contractions

Apostrophes are used to show omitted letters in contractions:

• won't
• can't
• shouldn't
• I'll
• you're

Plurals of letters, abbreviations, and numbers

To avoid possible confusion, you need an apostrophe with the plural of lower case letters. Otherwise plurals of some letters (a,i, or u, for example) would look like words.

There are too many s's and too many i's in Mississippi.

The plurals of capital letters may be formed with or without apostrophes, but we need an apostrophe if there is a possibility of confusion.

CONFUSING: As on a report card are wonderful.

CLEAR: A's on a report card are wonderful. 

To form the plural of abbreviations or numbers, we can use an apostrophe or not. It is our choice as long as we are consistent within a particular piece of writing.

apostrophe quiz

Accept, Except

To accept something is take it in or receive it. Except means everything but. He would not accept any money for the service he had performed. He had moved everything except the kitchen sink.

faze, phase

To faze is to frighten: Nothing seemed to faze him.

A phase is a stage in a development: He's going through the fiercely independent phase of adolescence. 

it's or its

INDEX

Many people confuse these words because they associate apostrophes with possessives. In fact, possessive nouns require apostrophes, but possessive pronouns do not.

" It's" and " its" are pronouns. Nouns, remember, are the names of
people, places, and things. Pronouns are words that stand in for nouns.

" It's" is a contraction of " it is." It's always good to have lots of chocolate.

" Its" is a possessive pronoun. If management doesn't follow its own policies, what can we expect from the employees? 

Comma Quiz Answers

Index



1. Mercer, who was in charge of the supply room, made sure that no one got supplies without permission. (interrupter)

2. People who needed supplies had to follow Mercer's way of doing things.

3. They had to fill out a request form, and Mercer double-checked every line. (compound sentence)

4. They had to come to the supply room and give the request form to Mercer.

5. Mercer could account for every pencil, paper clip, and notebook in the supply room. (series)

6. When people came to the supply room without a request form, Mercer turned them away. (introductory expression)

7. He didn't want to be mean, but he wasn't going to let them take advantage of him. (compound sentence)

8. Mercer wouldn't give a number 2 pencil to the president of the company unless he had a request form.

9. Some people felt that Mercer was a little too rigid, but he felt he was just doing his job. (compound Sentence)

10. When Mercer took over the supply room job on April 29, 1999, he made a list of everything in the supply room. (introductory expression and date)

11. Mercer, as you know, is not well liked in the company. (interrupter)

12. From the beginning everyone thought that Mercer was a pain in the neck.

Comma Quiz

Index



Put commas in the appropriate places in the following sentences.

1. Mercer who was in charge of the supply room made sure that no one got tools without permission.

2. People who needed supplies had to follow Mercer's way of doing things.

3. They had to fill out a request form and Mercer double checked every line.

4. They had to come to the supply room and give the request form to Mercer.

5. Mercer could account for every pair of pencil paper clip and note book in the supply room.

6. When people came to the supply room without a request form Mercer turned them away.

7. He didn't want to be mean but he wasn't going to let them take advantage of him.

8. Mercer wouldn't give a number 2 pencil to the president of the company unless he had a request form.

9. Some people felt that Mercer was a little too rigid but he felt he was just doing his job.

10. When Mercer took over the supply room job on April 29 1999 he made a list of everything in the tool room.

11. Mercer as you know is not well liked in the company.

12. From the beginning everyone thought that Mercer was a pain in the neck.

Answers

Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions

      

Index
Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions

      Do not put a comma between groups of words joined by a conjunction like and or but, except in compound sentences.

            He did not know whether to try to explain all this to his girl friend or to join a monastery. (Two phrases joined by or. A comma would be incorrect.)

            He couldn’t join the Foreign Legion because he was too old and overweight. (And joins two words. A comma would be inappropriate.)

Commas between sentence elements

Index

Commas between sentence elements Commas should not go between sentence elements that naturally go together. 

Do not put commas between subject and verb or verb and object.

EXAMPLES

Most people do not get enough chocolate in their diet.

Men who trifle with ladies’ affections will find that fate will have its revenge.

Professor Mongoose lost all his hope for happiness in only a few days.

(None of these sentences contain commas.)

Unnecessary Commas

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Unnecessary Commas Unnecessary commas confuse the reader. Do not use a comma unless there is a rule for it. It’s better to leave out a required comma than to put one in where it doesn’t belong.

Pause for breath and pause for change in the flow of thought

Most people put a comma in places within a sentence where a speaker would naturally pause. That would be right 90% of the time. The problem is, it would be wrong 10% of the time. A comma signals a change in the flow of thought within a sentence. However, sometimes we pause for breath. It is correct to put a comma in a sentence only where the flow of thought would change. It is not correct to put a comma in a sentence where the pause is only for a breath of air. See the sentence below.

Men who try to lead a double life always come to grief in the end.

Did you want to put a comma after “life”? There is a pause there, but there is no change in the flow of thought. If we try to take “who try to lead a double life” out of the sentence, we would change the meaning of the sentence drastically. It would be wrong to put a comma after “life.”

Series and Conventions

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Series and Conventions Series

            Words or groups of words in a series are separated by commas.

            He was surrounded by sycophants, liars, and thieves.

            Smedley had money hidden in the mattress, under the rug, and in the urn containing his mother’s ashes.


Conventions

            Commas are used to separate groups of numbers into units of threes, in dates and addresses, in titles and degrees, and with phrases identifying direct quotations. Notice that if dates or addresses appear within a sentence, a comma is required after the year and after the date.

            Aristotle Mongoose, Ph. D., of St. George, New Hampshire, said, “From October 1, 1997, to September 30 of the next year, Americans consumed 7,340,000 pounds of chocolate.”