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TITLE:         Apostrophes: a gentle introduction

AUTHOR:        Tim North

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COPYRIGHT:     (c)2005 Tim North, www.BetterWritingSkills.com

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Apostrophes: a gentle introduction
by
Tim North, http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com


Apostrophes are a common source of confusion for many writers.
They needn't be, though, and this easy-to-follow article will
help you to use them properly.

Let's start with a very simple explanation of what a noun is.
(Don't worry, this will be the only jargon in the entire article.
I promise.)

    A NOUN is a word that stands for a person or thing. Examples
    include "dog", "Tim", "love", "house" and "Ireland".

    SINGULAR NOUNS stand for a single person or thing; for
    example, "chair". PLURAL NOUNS stand for several people or
    things; for example, "chairs".

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Part 1. Using apostrophes to indicate possession
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The most common use of an apostrophe is to indicate possession by
a person or thing of some other person or thing. For example:
"John's book" or "Europe's history".

Using an apostrophe to indicate possession is really quite
straight forward, yet it's a frequent source of confusion. There
are two separate cases to consider: singular nouns and plural
nouns.

Singular nouns
--------------

When a noun is singular (i.e. it stands for a single person or
thing) we show possession by adding apostrophe–s. For example:

    the girl's book

    Japan's recovering economy

    the princess's gown

    Mauritius's beaches

    the cat's whiskers

Summary: Singular nouns are made possessive by adding apostrophe–s.

Plural nouns
--------------

When a noun is plural (i.e. it stands for a several people or
things) we show possession by adding an apostrophe after the "s".
For example:

    the CEOs' perks 
    (the perks of two or more CEOs)

    the players' pride
    (the pride of two or more players)

    the programmers' books
    (the books belonging to two or more programmers)

    the boys' games
    (the games belonging to two or more boys)

Summary: Plural nouns are made possessive by adding an apostrophe
after the "s".

An exception
------------

As with many rules, there is an exception. This one concerns nouns
that form their plural without adding an s. For example:
woman/women, person/people, sheep/sheep and child/children.

Words like this take apostrophe–s in both their forms. For
example:

    the woman's idea
    (the idea belonging to one woman)

    the women's idea
    (the idea belonging to two or more women)

    the child's gift
    (the gift belonging to one child)

    the children's gift
    (the gift belonging to two or more children)

Summary: Nouns that become plural without using an "s" (e.g.
woman/women) are made possessive by adding apostrophe–s to both
forms.

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Part 2. Using apostrophes to indicate missing letters
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Another use of the apostrophe is to indicate missing letters in
contractions such as "isn't", "doesn't" and "can't". For example:

    ---------------------------
    Full form    Shortened form
    ---------------------------
    can not        can't
    do not         don't
    does not       doesn't
    I will         I'll
    is not         isn't
    it is          it's
    let us         let's 
    shall not      shan't
    there is       there's
    you are        you're
    ---------------------------

You'll notice that the apostrophe appears in place of the omitted
letter or letters. For example, in contracting "is not" to
"isn't" the apostrophe replaces the missing "o".

But consider contracting "shall not" to "shan't". If we put an
apostrophe in place of the missing letters, shouldn't it be
written "sha'n't"? After all, we've left out both "l"s and an
"o".

It's a valid point. Indeed, until a few generations ago,
"sha'n't" was a commonly encountered spelling. Today, though, it
is rarely if ever seen.


That's all there is to it. Practise those simple rules, and
you'll be the local expert on apostrophes.

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You'll find many more helpful tips like these in Tim North's
much applauded range of e-books. More information is available
on his web site, and all books come with a money-back guarantee.

          http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com
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