Our proofreaders often find apostrophes in unusual places. At other times, though, these important punctuation marks are completely absent. In either case, failure to use apostrophes correctly can affect the quality of your writing.
Yet despite the confusion that apostrophes cause, it’s quite easy to master this important element of punctuation. All you need to remember is that apostrophes have two main uses: indicating possession and contractions.
Possessive Apostrophes
A possessive apostrophe isn’t one which jealously guards its stuff. Rather, it indicates that something belongs to someone or something:
Tim’s hairstyle delighted all who beheld it.
The barber shop’s opening hours were often unpredictable.
In these examples, a possessive apostrophe plus an ‘s’ indicates that the hairstyle belongs to Tim and that the opening hours are those of the barber shop.
The exceptions to this rule are possessive determiners, such as ‘his’ or ‘her’, which don’t require an apostrophe. The most important of these to remember is ‘its’, as many people wrongly add an apostrophe before the ‘s’:
Tim was frustrated with the barber shop: its opening hours were unpredictable.
Words which already end in an ‘s’, meanwhile, can be modified with either an ‘-’s’ or just an apostrophe (the important thing is being consistent):
Alanis’s work was perfectly punctuated.
Alanis’ work was perfectly punctuated.
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Forming Contractions
The other use of apostrophes is to form contractions. This occurs when combining two words to make an abbreviation:
Are not → Aren’t
I am → I’m
You would → You’d
Apostrophes in contractions indicate missing letters. This is also common when combining the subject of a sentence with words like ‘is’ or ‘has’:
Laura is dancing wildly → Laura’s dancing wildly
Her work has impressed everyone → Her work’s impressed everyone
Importantly, the contraction ‘it’s’ (short for ‘it is’) does need an apostrophe. This distinguishes ‘it’s’ from the possessive determiner ‘its’.
Common Mistake: Plural Nouns
One common error is adding an apostrophe when forming plurals. This isn’t necessary. The plural of ‘apple’, for example, is ‘apples’ (not ‘apple’s’). Plural nouns which end in an ‘s’ can then be modified with a possessive apostrophe:
The apples’ cores lay discarded on the ground.