As a copy editor, I’ve edited almost 50 full-length nonfiction books and novels, as well as numerous short stories, blog posts, query letters, book proposals and even Hollywood biographies. Time and time again, I see the same mistakes made by both first time and seasoned writers. These include the misuse of apostrophes, inability to identify a run-on sentence, and an overreliance on the fallible spell-check. Today, I will cover the most notorious problem, which is with apostrophes.
Lynne Truss, beloved author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, has said that “To those who care about punctuation, a sentence such as ‘Thank God its Friday’ (without the apostrophe) rouses feelings not only of despair but of violence." Seriously, the apostrophe is used incorrectly so often that it is becoming an endangered species. When do we need an apostrophe? When we want to denote possession, or to form a contraction, an apostrophe is indicated.
Let's start with possession. Possession means that something belongs to me, you, or someone else. Thus, if you want to write about President Obama's speech, you'll want to use an apostrophe. Likewise if you’re talking about his policies or his daughters. You will even require the apostrophe if you say that you've been invited over to the Obama's, because we infer the missing word "house" in that statement. (But if you ever receive such an invitation, apostrophes will no doubt be the last thing you'll be thinking about!)
We also want to use this form of punctuation with contractions, such as it’s, which stands for "it is," as opposed to "its,” which is a possessive adjective and pronoun. Using them both together, we have "It's a perfect day for the beach. Don't forget to bring the sunscreen."
Writers often confuse plurals with possessives and consequently refer to “Cd’s” and “DVD’s.” Wrong! There is no need for an apostrophe with those terms nor is it correct to say, “the 1980’s.” “1980s” is the right form unless you want to abbreviate it to refer to the ‘80s, in which case it is perfectly appropriate to use the apostrophe to stand in for the missing letters “19” when you talk about that rocking decade that produced Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
And you don't want to use an apostrophe in the middle of a noun that ends in “s.” For example, "Jack went to the store to buy Coke and potato chip’s” should be rewritten as “Jack went to the store to buy Coke and potato chips,” because chips is simply the plural of chip. In fact, if you see a sign in a store window saying that there is a sale on "potato chip's,” you deserve to get that treat for free.
However, you do want to use an apostrophe after a proper name that ends in “s” since once again, this refers to possession. "Jill decided to borrow Silas’s laptop for her long trip." There is a debate as to whether the second “s” is required; The Chicago Manual of Style prefers it that way, but other style guides disagree and say that it's fine to use “Silas’ laptop.” The important thing is that you are consistent. If you start out adding a second “s” in these instances, do it throughout your article or manuscript.
And remember that there’s an exception for Jesus -- more often than not, we will drop the second “s” when we write, "for Jesus’ sake!” Lynne Truss and Chicago part ways over how to refer to the disciples of Jesus, the former advocating a continuation of the simple apostrophe, and the latter recommending the use of the second “s” (e.g., Jesus’s disciples).
If this seems complicated to remember, it's really not. In many respects grammar is much like math. Once committed to memory, it becomes second nature. But if you have any doubts about when to use what, write down a short list of stumbling blocks that you have with apostrophes and keep it on the top of your desk. This simple step can improve your writing tremendously.
The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make
The Apostrophe
As a copy editor, I’ve edited almost 50 full-length nonfiction books and novels, as well as numerous short stories, blog posts, query letters, book proposals and even Hollywood biographies. Time and time again, I see the same mistakes made by both first time and seasoned writers. These include the misuse of apostrophes, inability to identify a run-on sentence, and an overreliance on the fallible spell-check. In a three-part series, I will cover each one of these issues, starting today with apostrophes.
Lynne Truss, beloved author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, has said that “To those who care about punctuation, a sentence such as ‘Thank God its Friday’ (without the apostrophe) rouses feelings not only of despair but of violence." Seriously, the apostrophe is used incorrectly so often that it is becoming an endangered species. When do we need an apostrophe? When we want to denote possession, or to form a contraction, an apostrophe is indicated.
Let's start with possession. Possession means that something belongs to me, you, or someone else. Thus, if you want to write about President Obama's speech, you'll want to use an apostrophe. Likewise if you’re talking about his policies or his daughters. You will even require the apostrophe if you say that you've been invited over to the Obama's, because we infer the missing word "house" in that statement. (But if you ever receive such an invitation, apostrophes will no doubt be the last thing you'll be thinking about!)
We also want to use this form of punctuation with contractions, such as it’s, which stands for "it is," as opposed to "its,” which is a possessive adjective and pronoun. Using them both together, we have "It's a perfect day for the beach. Don't forget to bring the sunscreen."
Writers often confuse plurals with possessives and consequently refer to “Cd’s” and “DVD’s.” Wrong! There is no need for an apostrophe with those terms nor is it correct to say, “the 1980’s.” “1980s” is the right form unless you want to abbreviate it to refer to the ‘80s, in which case it is perfectly appropriate to use the apostrophe to stand in for the missing letters “19” when you talk about that rocking decade that produced Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
And you don't want to use an apostrophe in the middle of a noun that ends in “s.” For example, "Jack went to the store to buy Coke and potato chip’s” should be rewritten as “Jack went to the store to buy Coke and potato chips,” because chips is simply the plural of chip. In fact, if you see a sign in a store window saying that there is a sale on potato chip's, you deserve to get them for free.
However, you do want to use an apostrophe after a proper name that ends in “s” since once again, this refers to possession. "Jill decided to borrow Silas’s laptop for her long trip." There is a debate as to whether the second “s” is required; The Chicago Manual of Style prefers it that way, but other style guides disagree and say that it's fine to use “Silas’ laptop.” The important thing is that you are consistent. If you start out adding a second “s” in these instances, do it throughout your article or manuscript. And remember that there’s an exception for Jesus -- more often than not, we will drop the second “s” when we write, "for Jesus’ sake!” Lynne Truss and Chicago part ways over how to refer to the disciples of Jesus, the former advocating a continuation of the simple apostrophe, and the latter recommending the use of the second “s” (e.g., Jesus’s disciples).
If this seems complicated to remember, it's really not. In many respects grammar is much like math. Once committed to memory, it becomes second nature. But if you have any doubts about when to use what, write down a short list of stumbling blocks that you have with apostrophes and keep it on the top of your desk. Better safe than sorry!
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor: A Writer's Guide to Perfect Prose, on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/3jgadgo
Sigrid Macdonald is a copy editor, a book coach, and a freelance writer. Originally from New Jersey, Macdonald currently resides in Nepean, Ontario. She’s written three full-length books including Getting Hip, D'Amour Road and Be Your Own Editor. Her articles have appeared in Canada's largest newspaper, The Globe and Mail; The Women's Freedom Network Newsletter in Washington, D.C.; the American magazine Justice Denied; and the Toastmaster, a publication of Toastmasters International which is read in 80 countries.
Sigrid edits fiction, non-fiction, short stories, websites and biographies, and helps people who feel stuck with their writing. She believes that a muse is someone who isn’t afraid to make mistakes because more is learned from failure than success.
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