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This article was originally posted on October 15, 2007.
I want to talk about my #1 grammatical pet peeve. Now I don’t claim to have perfect English, but I do strive to get this one particular thing mostly right because for some reason it bothers me more than other things.
What I am referring to is… the dreaded… APOSTROPHE.
The majority of the mistakes with apostrophes that I see are made in relation to last names. For example, when you sign a letter: Love, The Smith’s (WRONG), instead of Love, The Smiths (RIGHT!).
Let me clarify: Unless you are showing that you own something (like The Smiths’ House), your last name should never have an apostrophe with it!!!!!!
So just a quick breakdown (and these are only the rules that I think are most pertinent).
The 2 uses of the apostrophe are:
-To mark omission (in a contraction like “can’t”) - I think we all get this one.
-To show possession (ownership) - I will focus on this one.
Possessive Apostrophes:
For a singular noun, add apostrophe + s: cat’s meow
For a singular noun ending in s, there are 2 accepted possibilities: boss’ shoes or boss’s shoes
For a plural noun without an s, add apostrophe + s: children’s toys
For normal plural nouns, add an apostrophe at the end: all my friends’ kids (many friends)
I found this funny little example on Wikipedia:
Kingsley Amis, on being challenged to produce a sentence whose meaning depended on a possessive apostrophe, came up with:
- “Those things over there are my husbands.” (I’m married to those men over there.)
- “Those things over there are my husband’s.” (Those things over there belong to my husband.)
I hope this clears it up! And if you often make the “last name mistake,” please don’t take offense to this post; I hope it helps!.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Annie 10.17.07 at 10:50 am
I have never seen such a nerdy blog post. I’m beginning to wonder about you. I don’t even think I followed your wonderful explanation so it makes me wonder how we are such good friends?
Love,
The Scott’s
no wait….
Love,
The Scotts
oh wait, it’s just me…annie
Nicole Viola 10.17.07 at 1:47 pm
I know- I’m totally a nerd!
myste 10.22.07 at 10:36 am
ok nerd, help me with this one, what would a family be called if their last name ends with a -ch?
Frenches adds an e that isnt there, Frenchs doesnt sound pronounceable so I have used French’s because it pluralizes our last name and when spoken sounds like Frenches but doesnt give us the Phantom E
Nicole Viola 10.22.07 at 1:20 pm
Myste- from my research, the apostrophe really shouldn’t be used since you are not wanting to convey a possessive. I think technically Frenches is correct (I’ve seen “Joneses” a lot as an example) but if you want to avoid the extra ‘e’ you could always just say the French Family.
ms. tea 10.23.07 at 9:17 am
thanks! i am fond of French Family as well, but i am glad to know that adding the -es is commonly accepted.
David & Beth 10.23.07 at 10:34 pm
Have you read Eats, Shoots & Leaves? Judging from this post, I think you would like it!
Nicole Viola 11.07.07 at 9:06 pm
I’ll definitely have to check out that book!
I’ve heard the name, but never knew what it was about.
Kelly from Almost Frugal 10.09.08 at 12:08 pm
You’re such a geek! Great, great post. And love the theme
Danielle Zacharias 10.24.08 at 8:46 am
Hey Nicole,
I totally totally appreciate this post!!!! Along with misused apostrophe’s (just kidding) I also hate misused “quotes”. You know, like when someone is talking about this “movie” that they saw. I always want to ask them, so it wasn’t really a movie or what?
The possessive apostrophe is tricky especially when teaching advanced grammar to Cambodians who use a very very simple grammatical structure. They would always ask what the point was.
Myste, I hear you about the last name! Mine used to be Brett (which is much easier to pluralize - Bretts) but now Zacharias…hmm. The Zachariases? Zachariassssss?
I usually just say the Zachs
And to make it possessive - The Zacharias’ house
Fortunately or unfortunately, I inherited the unique gift of finding typos everywhere from my mother. I haven’t yet decided if it’s a gift or a curse. So Nicole, I definitely feel your frustration. It’s just a few rules you have to remember, not rocket science! Just like the your, you’re or their, they’re, there…just a few rules to remember
Sarita 11.05.08 at 9:58 am
Aren’t you glad Spanish doesn’t have apostrophes? LOL.
Sarita´s last blog post..Words we don’t use