Because alliteration is fun.
Alright, folks (or should I say “all right”?). This post is the last
official post for my Senior Experience project. However, I’ve quite enjoyed creating
this blog so far. So while I won’t continue to post daily, I may update with
posts once every week or so.
First, I’d just like to start off
with one of the most common mistakes that people make with regards to
apostrophes. Putting an apostrophe and
the letter s on the end of a singular
word does NOT make it plural. It makes it possessive. Some of you might be
reading this and thinking it’s obvious, but it is actually a surprisingly
frequently made error.
Incorrect: I heard there are a lot of house’s for sale in
that neighborhood.
Correct: I have yet to complete about ten homework
assignments that were already due. Seniors.
Yes, that last one
was, unfortunately, true.
The second thing I’d like to
address about apostrophes is the confusion that arises when a word ends with the letter s and you want to make it possessive.
Keep in mind, the only definitive rule
of the following is rule #2. The others are more of stylistic choices, as
there are several “correct” methods of forming the intended words. The
following “rules” are more like guidelines (in the spirit of Captain Jack Sparrow)
and are the stylistic choices that I personally make. Check out the resource
links at the bottom of this post to see some other approved methods of forming
the possessive version of words that end in s.
The most important thing is that you remain consistent in how you choose to form the words.
1. If the word is singular and ends in s, add an apostrophe and additional s. (As previously mentioned, there are other correct methods to
form such words. Some sources say that this depends on the sound of the s at the end of the word. Others say you
can just add the apostrophe without the extra s.)
Example: James à
I went to James’s house last weekend. [The house of James.]
Example 2: Mr.
Jones à
Mr. Jones’s daughter is going to prom with me. [The daughter of Mr. Jones.]
2. If the word, when singular, does not end in s but ends in s when plural, just add an apostrophe after the s to make the plural possessive.
Example: Girl(s) à
I slept over in the girls’ bedroom. [The bedroom of the girls.]
Example 2: Apple(s)
à
The apples’ color was bright red. [The color of the apples.]
3. If the word, when singular, ends in s and you want to make its plural form possessive, add an es (to make it plural) and an apostrophe
immediately after.
Example: The
Jones Family à
The Joneses’ new car already has a dent. [The car of the Joneses (their last
name is Jones).]
Example 2: Bus(es)
à
The buses’ route to the party was interrupted by an accident. [The route of the
buses (singular form is bus).]
The third and final concept of apostrophe
use that I believe causes the most confusion is possession by more than one person (joint/compound possession). The
person or thing that possesses something is known as a possessor. However, to make things simple, I’ll just use the word
“people.”
1. If multiple people share in possessing one thing, add the
apostrophe and s to the final person’s
name, and make the object singular (or plural if they share more than one of
the object being possessed).
Example: Joe and
Marie’s cat jumped through a window. [Joe and Marie own the cat together, and
it jumped out the window.]
Example 2: Joe
and Marie’s two cats jumped through a window. [Joe and Marie own the two cats
together, and both jumped out the window.]
2. If multiple people each possess their own of the same
thing, each person gets his or her own apostrophe and the object should be
plural.
Example 1: Joe’s
and Marie’s cats jumped through a window. [Joe and Marie each own a cat, and
both cats happened to jump through the window.]
Example 2: Joe’s
and Marie’s two cats jumped through a window. [Many grammarians would interpret
this to mean that Joe and Marie each own two cats, and all four cats happened
to jump through the window.]
3. If one of the possessors is a personal pronoun (my, your, his, her, its, our, their), the
other person gets an apostrophe and s,
as well.
Example: My and
Joe’s cat jumped through a window. [We share a cat and it jumped out the
window.]
*No cats were harmed
in the making of this post.
References and other links for more information:
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