Want to finally figure out how to use apostrophes properly? Here are the tried and tested methods every budding writer has to know.
Knowing how to use apostrophes can be really challenging, and so many people forget as soon as they leave primary school.
As a private tutor myself, I’ve marked down lots of essays for poor punctuation – and corrected countless more. It’s the sort of thing you really don’t want to lose marks for – save those spare marks for something more important!
This article is all about how to use apostrophes.
How to Use Apostrophes
There are two uses of apostrophes: contraction and possession. They’re completely separate, but very easily confused!
Contraction
Contraction is probably the easiest part of learning about apostrophes, so a good place to start. It’s essentially the process of removing a letter and replacing it with an apostrophe. Here are some examples:
I am
You are
He is
We will
They would
Would not
Will not
Should have
Let us
I’m
You’re
He’s
We’ll
They’d
Wouldn’t
Won’t
Should’ve
Let’s
As you can see, each of these contractions are missing a letter and have an apostrophe instead. In ‘I am’, for example, we replace the a with an apostrophe, to make ‘I‘m’.
You can even have double contractions – would fun! For example, ‘should not have’ might be shortened to ‘shouldn’t’ve’.
One last point about contractions: in general, avoid writing them. You can use them when speaking as much as you like, or even when writing informally (so a letter to a friend, for example), but when writing an essay you should always write the full version. The same goes for articles and speeches.
Possession
Now, here’s where the going gets tough!
Or so you might think. However, possessive apostrophes are actually far simpler than they seem. Having said that, it’s slightly horrifying how many times I see highly educated people making very basic punctuation errors here!
Before you start figuring out your apostrophes, you need to figure out what is doing the owning. For example, in the phrase ‘the turkey’s feathers’, the feathers belong to the turkey. If you find this tricky, I like to reword it has ‘the feathers belonging to the turkey’, which makes it clear that the turkey is the thing doing the owning and therefore has the apostrophe.
There are two basic types of possessive apostrophes, and the rule is slightly different for each. Here are some examples:
Singular possession
With singular possessive apostrophes, you add an apostrophe and an s. This also applies when the thing doing the owning ends in s – which is another very common mistake.
The food belonging to the cat.
The cat’s food.
The books belonging to Boris.
Boris’s books.
Plural possession
With plural possessive apostrophes, you only add the apostrophe. However, if the plural word does not end in s (for example, women, children or deer), you add the s as normal.
The food belonging to the cats.
The cats’ food.
The cars belonging to the women.
The women’s cars.
To summarise, then, you always add an apostrophe and an s after the thing doing the owning, UNLESS the thing doing the owning is a plural word ending in s. In that case, you only add the apostrophe. Simple!
Punctuating years
Ok, this one is just a pet peeve of mine. Writing
The Beatles rose to stardom in the 1960’s.
is incorrect, though sadly all too common. What do the 1960s own in that sentence? The Beatles? Stardom? There is no possession involved, so it should just be 1960s, with no apostrophe.
It’s vs Its
This is THE most common apostrophes mistake, and it’s one that irritates a lot of teachers. So make sure you get it right!
It’s
It’s is short for it is or it has. It is NEVER used for possession – which I know can be confusing! However, it’s is used for contraction. Here are some examples:
It’s raining outside.
It is raining outside.
It’s taken my food!
It has taken my food!
Its
Confusingly, its is the form for we use for possession. Here are some examples of this:
The lion chased its prey.
The book was missing its cover.
The table was not in its normal position.
The key with this sentences is to try saying ‘it is‘ or ‘it has‘ instead of its. Does ‘The lion chased it is prey’ make sense? Nope – so no apostrophe.
And there we have it! Absolutely everything you might ever need to know about apostrophes. Hope it helps!
This article was all about how to use apostrophes.
If you found this helpful, you might also find these articles interesting: