Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 3: The apostrophe to indicate possession
• Part 2 of 3: No apostrophe to indicate plural
• Part 3 of 3: The apostrophe in contractions
• Tips
• Warnings

The apostrophe is a punctuation mark in the shape of a comma in the air. In English, you use an apostrophe in two cases: in multi-word contractions (to show that certain letters have been omitted; we therefore also call the apostrophe the truncation or ellipsis) and to indicate ownership or possession - so to show that something belongs to someone. The rules for using the apostrophe depend on the type of word. If you know exactly when to use an apostrophe or not in English, you can learn to write more clearly and concisely.

To step

Part 1 of 3: The apostrophe to indicate possession

1. You can use an apostrophe to indicate that something belongs to a particular noun. An apostrophe followed by the letter "s" after a proper name indicates that the person, place, or thing owns the noun mentioned after his or her name. An example of this is "Mary's lemons" (Mary's lemons). We know Mary's lemons are because of the "s. A few other examples are "China's foreign policy" and "the orchestra's conductor" (the orchestra's conductor).
   • With some nouns you cannot really speak of "ownership" or "possession." For example, "Sunday's football game" (the Sunday football game, or the football game that is or will be played last or next Sunday) is technically not entirely correct (because "Sunday" cannot own anything), but in English you can do it just fine. say and write. Likewise, it is perfectly correct to speak of "a hard day's work", even though a day can of course have nothing.
2. You must also use the apostrophe after words ending with an "s’ end. With a name that ends with an "s" you can in principle indicate the possession with an apostrophe and you do not have to add an "s" after it, but real language fanatics will find that after the apostrophe there is also an "s". " hears.
   • Note the following difference in usage:
     
     • The following constructs are accepted: Jones' house (Jone's house); Francis' window (Francis's window); Enders' family.
     • But preference is given to: Jones’s house; Francis's window; Enders’s family.
   • Both ways are basically correct, so it doesn't really matter which style you use, but try to be consistent in use. So choose one particular style and stick to it.
3. We do not use the apostrophe to indicate possession after the word "it". For example, "China's foreign policy" is correct, but it may be clear to your readers that you are already talking about China. If you then use "it" to refer to the country. If you want to refer to something China owns in that way, then you have to write "its foreign policy", so without an apostrophe.
   • This is to avoid confusion between "its" to indicate possession and "it's" to be a contraction of "it is." If you're not sure whether or not to use an apostrophe, try saying the sentence with "it is" (it is) or "it has" (it has). If the sentence doesn't make sense (for example, you can't say "it is foreign policy" to replace "China's foreign policy"), then omit the apostrophe.
4. The apostrophe to indicate possession of a plural noun. A well-known stumbling block is the use of the apostrophe for a group in the plural when it comes to the ownership of a family. For example, if the Smart family lives across from you and has a boat, the boat is the "Smarts' boat" and not the "Smart's boat." Since you're talking about all members of the Smart family, you should start with "Smarts." Since the boat belongs to all members of the Smart family (at least we may assume that), the apostrophe comes after the "s."
   • If the family's last name ends with an "s", put the last name in plural first and then add the apostrophe. For example, when you talk about the Williams family, it becomes plural "the Williamses." And if you want to talk about their dog, that's the "Williamses' dog." If the surname sounds strange that way, you can also get around the problem by saying "the Williams family" and "the Williams family's dog".
   • The position of the apostrophe if a particular object has multiple owners. For example, if a cat belongs to both John and Mary, you should write "John and Mary's cat" - not "John's and Mary's cat." "John and Mary" is a so-called composite noun phrase and therefore there is only an apostrophe after the last name.

Part 2 of 3: No apostrophe to indicate plural

1. We usually don't use an apostrophe to indicate plural. The incorrect use of an apostrophe to form the plural is also called the greengrocer's apostrophe (the greengrocer's apostrophe), because greengrocers make this mistake most often (or at least in the most visible way). So the plural of apple in English is apples and not apples.
   • There are exceptions to this rule, for example to form the plural of a letter. Hence, it uses the apostrophe in the sentence Why are there so many i's in the word "indivisibility"? (Why are there so many i's in the word "indivisibility"?) is correct, depending on who you ask. This is done primarily for clarity, to avoid confusion with the word "is". Today, however, most people prefer not to use an apostrophe in English in this case and instead put the letter in quotation marks before putting it in the plural. You will then get: Why are there so many "i" s in the word "indivisibility"?
   • For the numbers zero through ten you can get around the problem by writing out the plural forms completely: "ones" (ones) instead of "1's," "fours" instead of "4's" and "nines" (nines) instead of "9's." It is better not to write numbers higher than ten in letters.
2. The apostrophe in abbreviations and dates. Suppose you use an abbreviation for a certain noun, such as CD. The plural of CD is not CDs but "CDs." The same goes for years - It's not "Spandex was popular in the 1980's" (Elastane was widely used in the 1980's), but "in the 1980's."
   • In years, we only use an apostrophe to replace a number that has been omitted. For example, you can abbreviate the year 2005 to '05 in a written text. The apostrophe then actually fulfills the same function as in a contraction; it is actually a kind of shorthand, or a concise way of writing.

Part 3 of 3: The apostrophe in contractions

1. The apostrophe in contractions. In informal written texts, an apostrophe is often used to indicate the absence of one or more letters. For example, the word "don't" is a contraction of "don't." A few more examples of this are "isn't" (isn't), "wouldn't" (wouldn't) and "can't" (can't). You can also make contractions with the verbs "is" (to be), "has" (he / she has) and "have" (to have). For example, instead of "She's going to school" you could write "She's going to school." And instead of "He has lost the game" you can write "He's lost the game."
2. Be careful with it's and it's. After the word "it" we only use the apostrophe in a contraction with the verb forms "is" or "has." It is a pronoun, and with pronouns we indicate possession or quality in a different way. In that case we do not use an apostrophe. An example of this is: "That noise? It's just the dog eating its bone "(That sound? That's just the dog eating its bone.) This may seem confusing, but it follows the same system as other possessive pronouns such as: his (are), hers (her), its ("of it"), yours (your), ours (us / our), theirs (their).

Tips

• When in doubt, remember that we basically only use an apostrophe to indicate ownership or ownership of a noun. In most other cases, we don't normally use an apostrophe.
• According to the American style guide The Chicago Manual of Style, singular proper names that end with an "s" are followed by an "s" after the apostrophe, as in "Charles's bike" (Charles's bicycle). If you have to adhere to certain spelling guidelines at work or on an assignment, respect those rules. In all other cases, both forms are correct, as long as you consistently use one and the same way within one particular written text.
• A handy and concise style guide to writing and the correct use of punctuation in English is The Elements of Style by authors Strunk and White. If you need to write something in English again, you can keep this book handy.

Warnings

• If you just use hyphenation marks at random, the reader of your text will soon see that you do not know the rules for possession, for contractions and for the plural. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and omit the apostrophe.
• Do not use an apostrophe as part of your name in the sender on an envelope. If you're writing the sender on an envelope or at the top of a letter, don't use an apostrophe as part of your name. If your last name is "Greenwood", "The Greenwoods"correct, but"the Greenwood's"is wrong." The Greenwoods "indicates that several persons with the surname Greenwood live at that address. It is not a form, property or characteristic.
• Be careful with the conjugation of verbs that end with a "y", such as the verb "try". For example, the third person singular of "try" (hey, she, it) is not "try's", but "Tries.’
• Never use hyphen or quotation marks to emphasize a particular word. On a poster that reads: Joe Schmo, the "best" realtor in town! (Joe Schmo, the "best" broker around!), For example, it seems like the word "best" is meant to be sarcastic and as if what it says is actually not true, rather than being emphasized.
• Never write "her" (her). The word her's does not exist in English. Keep in mind that you wouldn't write "him's" either. Possessive pronouns are never followed by an apostrophe: his (his), hers (hers), its (there; of the / it), yours (yours), ours (ours), theirs (theirs).