Home > Useful and entertaining > Be an apostrophe wizard!

Be an apostrophe wizard!

People get confused by apostrophes. OK, getting apostrophes right isn't of earth shattering importance but getting them wrong makes you look careless and in some cases can cause confusion. The rules are actually quite straightforward. Here's a handy guide:

The rules, in brief:
  • No apostrophe for a simple plural or a verb ending - "two Johns", "John runs"
  • Apostrophe before the "s" for belonging to one thing or person - "John's book"
  • Apostrophe after the "s" for belonging to more than one - The two Johns' laughter
  • An apostrophe when something is missing, "Let's go", "Isn't it?" "It's" (meaning "it is")
  • No apostrophe for "its" (meaning "belonging to it").

Explanation

People first used apostrophes (') in English to show that something is missing:

"Let's go to the pub."

Here "let's" is short for "let us". The apostrophe shows there is a missing "u".

"I wouldn't if I were you." - here the apostrophe shows an "o" is missing ("I would not.")

"It's a nice day" - here the apostrophe shows the "i" is missing from "it is".

So far, so good.

In Old English, people used to use "his" to show when something belonged to someone.

"John, his house" was shortened to "Johnis house" and eventually to "John's house". The apostrophe was there to show that "his" or "is" was missing. It's still useful to keep it because we also add "-s" to words to show the plural (when there is more than one). The apostrophe helps us to know when the "-s" means possession, not plural, as in:

"There are two Johns in the class. The first John is the other John's cousin"

But what happens when you get a plural and possession coming together? To indicate both, we put the apostrophe after the "-s":

"The sound of the two Johns' laughter filled the room."

If there is nothing missing and the "-s" just shows there is more than one of something, you don't need any apostrophes.

There is one problem, and this is where most people get confused:

How do you distinguish between "its" meaning "belonging to it" and "it's" meaning "it is"?.

Well, you can see for yourself. If it means "it is" you keep the apostrophe. If it means "belonging to it" you just put "its".

Finally, you sometimes get an "s" at the end of a verb as in "Dad lets me stay out till ten." There's nothing missing here, so no apostrophe needed.

Finally:
A small number of words, such as many Latin names, end in "s" - for example Augustus. You can add "apostrophe s" to words like these to show something belongs to that person (for example, "Augustus's toenail". But, adding an "s" to another "s" sounds odd, so people often shorten it and just put an apostrophe after the "s" that is already there, for example, "Augustus' toenail"). Both Augustus's and Augustus' are right - you can use either.

I hope this simple explanation has helped. If you are still confused, it just illustrates that paying a copywriter to get it right for you can be a wise move.