Apostrophes?

Question

Don't get them! At all 's s' no ' someone help me!

Answer 1

You put in an apostrophe when something belongs to someone.
For example Tim's dog. If the name etc already ends in an S then you dont put on an extra S, you put the apostrophe at the end of the S. For example Charles' dog.

They are also used when you split up a word, to represent the letter that is lost. Ie when changing do not to don't. You are loosing the O so you put an apostrophe in there.

Answer 2

Apostrophes are used in two contexts - one is take the place of an omitted letter, typically "o", in what is known as a contraction, e.g. don't which is a contraction of do not. The other is to indicate the possessive case where 's is added to the end of a word, usually a name, e.g. Bill's car. Two cases that are somewhat confusing are: 1) where the name already ends in s, e.g. James. The rule used to be if the name ends in s, then just add apostrophe, but it is becoming acceptable (most deplorably for traditionalists like myself) to add 's in these cases as well. Hence, you will see instances of both James' car and James's car. 2) Its and it's, where the first is the possessive case of it and the second is a contraction of it is. In this case, no apostrophe in the possessive case is an exception to the rule. One might ask why aren't they the other way around (its=contraction, it's possessive) and then no apostrophe for the contraction would have been the exception. I guess the short answer is simply because (as in because a couple of hundred years ago, or whenever, they simply decided to do it the way they did rather than the other way around).

Answer 3

you use apostrophes if you are shortening two words into one and dropping a letter. You place the apostrophe where the missing letter was. So... 'should not' becomes 'shouldn't' see, the apostrophe is where the o would of been.

Also 's and s' is used to write about something belonging to a person, i.e.Lisa's books.

Answer 4

This is John's bag. (singular prossessive)


The Smiths' have a new baby. (plural possessive)

The Joneses' are having a party. (plural possessive)

One day's work. ( singular )

Two days' work. ( plural )

Points to remember:

The apostrophe before the s indicates the possessor is singular.

The apostrophe behind the s indicates the possessor is plural and already ends in an s .

When a plural end in s just add ( ' )

Hope this helps a little.

Answer 5

Apostrophes are put in place of letters that are omitted in a shortened written form of a word. e.g I'll ("WI" missing). For plurals you use " 's" as the old form was "es" - but know we write "Paul's pen" not "Paules pen." Look at "Wikipedia" if you are really into all the precise grammar rules.

(Or just wait for some wanker called Jeff to cut and paste a couple of pages for you...As if you can't use the web yourself. People have never heard the expression "less is more"?)

Answer 6

like teach1 says, apostrophes are mainly to denote possession or to show missing letters.
However there are a couple of extras and things to watch.
You don't use an apostrophe when the possessive is belonging to it. That's its.
If you use an apostrophe here, you are writing the abbreviation for it is.
NEVER use them for simple plurals - 'bad idea's'
BUT you can use them to denote plurals of abbreviations eg 'lots of SOS's were sent.'
Lastly, you can use an apostrophe for time expressions, such as 'a week's holiday'.

The best web site for English grammar is this one
http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/lapost.htm
It gives lessons, examples and even tests to check you have it right.

Answer 7

Apostrophes should be used when there is part of a word missing. So, it's = it is. (its = belonging to it). Multiples (e.g. apples) should never have an apostrophe.

Answer 8

Use apostrophe s ('s) to denote the following:

1) abbreviation of the word "is" into its subject, ie: it's = it is, he's = he is
2) possession when referring to a noun; ie: Mike's, the cat's

An exception to rule 2 above is when applied to "it". "It's" refers to "it is", where as "its" refers to "belonging to it".

Use the apostrophy after s (s') when denoting possession of a noun in its plural form; ie: the elephants' = something belonging to the elephants. It avoids situations where you end up with s apostrophy s like elephants's. Also used when the last letter of a noun to which a possession is referred is an "s"; ie: Charles', not Charles's.

GGGRRRRR! WHAT'S WITH THAT IDIOT COPYING AND PASTING FROM WIKIPEDIA?

Answer 9

Jane's cat and Charles's cat and the Joneses' cat
A week's holiday and two weeks' pay
The boss is angry, the boss's wife, the bosses' wives
St James's Square
The octopuses' tentacles
Jesus' (archaic or liturgical) Jesus's
for goodness' sake
for God's sake
I'm going to Mr Debenham's but I'm going to Debenhams
I'm going to the butcher's and I'm going to the Butchers' (people) but I'm going to Butchers (a shop called Butchers)
Moses' bad breath but Alexander Dumas's novel
In the event of Jane's not attending the funeral
I knew about Jane's daughters attending the funeral
I disapprove of her going
I disapprove of Jane's (or less formal but more felicitous, Jane) going

Using the apostrophe to denote possession before gerunds is one of the trickiest parts of English grammar

Answer 10

if you are dropping letters be simply putting an S at the end of a word... ie Simon is Gay - Simon's Gay... then use apostrophe

If your talking about someones thing, then no letters are substituted so dont use apostrophe.... ie Simons Dog is Gay


that ok????