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Grammar & Punctuation
02/23/2016 05:50 pm PST
Updated 1 year ago

Correct Apostrophe Usage for Omitted Letters and Possessives

By Catia Shattuck

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Apostrophe usage @ Book Cave - content-rated books

Today, we'll be talking about apostrophes, when to use them with omitted letters and possessives, and which way they should face. A few simple rules will help you use apostrophes with confidence.

How to Use Apostrophes in Contractions

In contractions or partial words, the apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters.

they’re = they are
I’m = I am
It’s = it is
don’t = do not
wasn’t = was not

Unlike single quotation marks, apostrophes should always curve to the left.

Right: Correct apostrophe usage @ Book Cave - content-rated books = them
Wrong: Incorrect apostrophe usage @ Book Cave - content-rated books= them

Microsoft Word will always put in the apostrophe so that it curves toward the text, which, in the example above, would be the wrong way. The best way to fix these errors is to run a search and replace for words you know are in your book. For example, you could put ‘em into the Find box and ’em into the Replace box.

How to Use Apostrophes in Possessives

Apostrophes are also used in possessives. The basic rule is to add ’s, whether the noun is singular or plural.

Claire’s book
Nate’s book
The children's book

One exception to adding ’s is with the word it. In this case, you do NOT include an apostrophe.

Right: Its book
Wrong: It's book (this means "It is book" not that the book belong to "It.")

When the noun ends in an s (and is singular), you still add an ’s.

For the name James:
Right: James’s book
Wrong: James’ book

The Chicago Manual of Style used to recommend omitting that extra "s" in the names of Biblical figures, such as Jesus and Moses, but it has since removed that exception for consistency's sake. However, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, as well as several style guides, still recommends omitting the extra "s."

Merriam-Webster: Jesus’ book.
Chicago: Jesus’s book.

For the word class:
Right: The class’s pet
Wrong: The class’ pet

When the noun ends in an s and is plural, you only add an apostrophe.

For the name Jones (the plural is Joneses, as in "The Joneses"):
Right: The Joneses’ place
Wrong: The Joneses’s place

For the word classes:
Right: The classes’ party
Wrong: The classes’s party

Apostrophes to Make Plurals

In general, apostrophes are not used to make plurals. One exception is when making single letters plural. (Note: other exceptions are when NOT using the apostrophe would make the sentence unclear.)

Right: Mind your p’s and q’s.
Wrong: Mind your ps and qs.

Right: There are two a's in that word.
Wrong: There are two as in that word.

If you'd like to learn more about Book Cave author promotions or other punctuation tips like these, please enter your email below and click the "Learn More" button to receive our author newsletter.


Catia Shattuck

I am a copyeditor and a typesetter of print books, and have been editing and typesetting (using InDesign) for eleven years.

With my experience and a degree from Brigham Young University in English language and an additional minor in editing, I am a pro at giving editing and design advice, and I enjoy instructing others on how to do the very things I love.


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  1. eric
    eric • 3 months ago

    when writing dialog, I'm trying to approximate a person's speaking style. Should I cover every omitted letter with an apostrophe? For instance, should should n for and be written 'n'. thanks for your help.

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck eric • 10 days ago

      Yes, that's right, and be sure that the apostrophes are both curving to the left: ’n’.

      Note that with ’n’, Merriam Webster does list ’n as an alternate usage--while it isn't technically "correct," it is becoming more and more common.

      Reply
  2. hannah schilling
    hannah schilling • 4 months ago

    A character in a book is named Jumpin' and I was wondering how to show possession with it:

    for example that a boat belongs to him.

    Would it be Jumpin's boat?

    Thank you for your insight

    Reply
    • hannah
      hannah hannah schilling • 4 months ago

      There is a character in a book named Jumpin' and so am wondering how do you show possession? He has a shack. Do you say Jumpin's shack?

      Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck hannah schilling • 10 days ago

      I can't find an exact answer to this in Chicago, but I would go with removing the extra apostrophe and saying Jumpin's boat or Jumpin's shack.

      Reply
  3. Crystal
    Crystal • 5 months ago

    What about apostrophes with years, dates and numbers?
    Ex: 2020 as '20 or `20

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Crystal • 10 days ago

      That is exactly right:
      The ’20s
      The class of ’06

      Reply
  4. Gabe
    Gabe • 5 months ago

    Thank you : )

    Reply
  5. sometimes English is making me confuse, I hope one day i will understand all.
    sometimes English is making me confuse, I hope one day i will understand all. • 7 months ago

    I love it.

    Reply
  6. William E. Wallace
    William E. Wallace • 8 months ago

    Is there a name for the tilde like mark over letters indicating a missing "N"
    in Michelangelo signature, he write AGELUS with the tilde like, rounded tent mark over the A & G.
    a name for such a mark?

    Reply
  7. John
    John • 8 months ago

    The French name D'Artagnan seems to be an elision, probably meaning the some letter or sound was omitted. Maybe the name was De Artagnan. I am trying to discover what kind a name best desribes O'Berry, or O'Flanagan, or O'Leary. Are these probably Irish or Scottish name properly termed compound names, or?

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck John • 10 days ago

      "O'" usually means "of," but in these instances of O'Berry, or O'Flanagan, and O'Leary, they are Americanized versions of Irish names, where an acute accent was turned into an apostrophe. For example, "O'Leary" is the Americanized version of "Ó Laoghaire," which means "descendant of Laoghaire."

      Reply
  8. jimson
    jimson • 1 year ago

    How about 'C' or is it "C" in "can't" when reducing a word to a single letter?

    Reply
  9. Ed Maddox
    Ed Maddox • 1 year ago

    I am naming my lake house. I want to use a southern slang term as the name and put it on a sign in front of the house. I want to call it “bout half” who’s is what we southerners sometimes say instead of “about half”. My question is, should I uses an apostrophe in front of bout? As in ‘bout half. Your assistance in helping me write in redneck is greatly appreciated!

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Ed Maddox • 10 days ago

      Yep, technically it should be ’bout half, with an apostrophe.

      Reply
  10. Clint Hill
    Clint Hill • 1 year ago

    Hi! My question concerns the apostrophe taking the place of a letter as a quote from a character in a story I’m writing. To give a sense of the character’s manner of speech, some of the dialogue omits the letter “g” in words like “something” so that they become “somethin’ ” in the text.

    But what if the sentence or dialogue ends with the word “somethin’ ”?

    My example: “Epidemic my foot! Why he talks about women in aviation as if it was a disease or somethin’.”

    Is that punctuation correct? Thank you in advance.

    Clint

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Clint Hill • 10 days ago

      Yes, that is exactly right!

      Reply
  11. Jasmine
    Jasmine • 1 year ago

    Hey there! I am looking for a less common rule on contractions; when we contract noun+is, does it look the same as a possessive? For example, does "winter is coming" become "winter's coming"? I've been looking around but I can't seem to find the answer, please let me know your take on it.

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Jasmine • 10 days ago

      Yes, it would be "winter's coming." The apostrophe takes the place of the letter "i".

      Reply
      • Jasmine
        Jasmine Catia Shattuck • 9 days ago

        Thank you!

        Reply
  12. hub
    hub • 1 year ago

    have!). Furthermore, I really don't think numbers and letters should be jumbled up together; after all, there's probably a reason that tendency (if we choose to settle for that term) has persisted until recently, when grammarians and linguists couldn't leave good enough alone and began to question the validity of a most conventional apostrophe usage. In closing, I support rules over feeling - but that's just me. There are many times I find myself writing something correctly even if it doesn't look right. Usually I settle for rewording. That's all from Elias's camp. PS - The grocer's apostrophe is simply inexcusable!

    Reply
  13. Matt
    Matt • 1 year ago

    Something I have pondered is the use the apostrophe as a substitute for a letter where it is not technically a contraction. One example would be o’er to replace “over” in old Christian Hymns (where the word needs to be one syllable instead of two in order to fit in the song). As I’m in IT, we often use acronyms as words and sometimes as verbs. An example of this is NAT. I might say, “I need that connection to be NAT’ed.” Some people write “NATted” which fits pronunciation, but I think that looks funny. This article helps me feel better about using “NAT’ed” or “NAT’ing” as a substitute for the second “t,” so thanks!

    Reply
  14. Bea
    Bea • 1 year ago

    Trying to figure out the right usage of the apostrophe for a CD title.... so is it
    Play’n for keeps, or
    Playn’ for keeps, which is correct?
    Thank you
    Bea

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Bea • 10 days ago

      It would be Play’n’ for Keeps, or Playin’ for Keeps.

      Reply
  15. Joseph
    Joseph • 1 year ago

    Why the exception for biblical figures?

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Joseph • 1 year ago

      The Chicago Manual of Style used to recommend not adding the extra "s" to the names of Biblical figures, but they have since changed their recommendation for consistency's sake. However, Merriam Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-happens-to-names-when-we-make-them-plural-or-possessive) and other style guides do still recommend omitting the "s" for Biblical figures. I'll update the post to reflect this information. Thanks!

      Reply
      • Joseph
        Joseph Catia Shattuck • 1 year ago

        Thanks for that. I wonder why it was ever considered?

        Reply
  16. Ronald E Sorter
    Ronald E Sorter • 1 year ago

    Hello,
    Great job. Thank you for all the information.
    I do have a question on apostrophe use in proper nouns. For example, if I wanted to abbreviate "Cecil" would I write "Cec', "Ce', or something else?
    I look forward to your response, at your convenience, and again, I thank you so much.

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Ronald E Sorter • 1 year ago

      If you're abbreviating a proper noun, then you're creating a nickname, which becomes its own name rather than an abbreviation. So it would just be "Cec" or "Ce".

      Reply
  17. Lisa
    Lisa • 2 years ago

    HELP! What would be proper placement of apostrophe in the title of my son's business name:
    Up N Cut Tree Service

    Does apostrophe goe BEFORE the N or after?

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Lisa • 2 years ago

      The correct formation would be Up 'N' Cut Tree Service, because the apostrophes take the place of the a and the d.
      Merriam Webster does list 'n as an alternate usage--while it isn't technically "correct," it is becoming more and more common.
      I've also see businesses choose not to use apostrophes at all, for aesthetic reasons--such as the ScanNCut Brother sewing machine.

      Reply
  18. samia
    samia • 2 years ago

    Hi
    Just wanted to ask if one apostrophe is sufficient to miss 2 and 3 letters in a word.

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck samia • 2 years ago

      Yes it is, as long as the letters the apostrophe is replacing are in a row, such as I'll (I will), where the apostrophe is replacing both the w and i, or I'd (I would), where the apostrophe is replacing "woul."

      Reply
  19. Bryan M.
    Bryan M. • 2 years ago

    Catia, you are a breath of fresh air with all of the misguided, misinformed novelists we have to share blog spots with these days, it's as if they either were sleeping in class the day they were supposed to be listening, or school curriculums have abandoned the education of students where proper grammar, sentence structure, verb conjugation, proper use of contractions, and good old basic, spelling. When you and I went to school, it was part of the every-day agenda to learn to spell, how to diagram a sentence, what constitutes each form of words making up sentences, such as verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, prepositions and prepositional phrases, direct and indirect objects, how to correctly pluralize a word, and which part of the word phrase gets the plurality assigned to it, like attorneys general, not attorney generals; passers-by, not passer-bys. Kids these days don't have a clue about any of this previously required subject matter. I was appalled to learn that cursive writing is no longer taught in schools, either. If they don't teach it, how do they expect the kids to identify themselves via their signature and sign a document or read a manuscript that was written in cursive format by its author? I don't understand the rationale behind the devaluation and subsequent omission of this very important component of a complete and thorough educational experience that every student needs and deserves; and who is the lame brain responsible for making the misguided, irresponsible, unjustifiable determination that kids these days don't need to know how to spell or write correctly and properly? I thank God that I was given that instruction all through elementary, junior-high, and high-school, every year, every day. To me it is unconscionable and I hope it comes back to bite those responsible in the butt for doing away with it. Every time I read a professional manuscript, or see a post on Facebook, or read an article in a magazine or text messages on phones where the number of errors in spelling and grammar are so profound and so pathetically unnecessary if proper educational instruction was still a priority in what we teach our kids in their schools these days. It just makes my blood boil.
    Sorry to be so long-winded; to make a long story short, with your permission, I would like to give the link to this website to a woman who is representative of an online business that she is a co-owner or partner in; she writes all of her ads and promotional PSAs and basically spams everyone's inboxes with drivel. The problem with her is that she does not proof-read her ads and informational posts she places on her website and she is one of the ones I've just been describing--no clue about whether or not she has misspelled words, improper contractions, improper use of punctuational symbols like apostrophes, semi-colons, commas, etc. I've given her a few pointers but it's like water off a duck's back and I'm beyond being annoyed by it. If she can't proof-read her own work, get someone else to do it, but DO IT. It totally puts her levels of expertise and credibility in the toilet. If she can't submit a professionally written ad or blog or PSA, she shouldn't be doing it at all and should get someone else with the expertise and skill to their credit to have her work proof-read and edited. When I ran across your spot here I was elated because this is exactly what she needs. Oh, and by the way, I'm an English minor (Nursing major) starting out at BYU and ending up at Weber State. I live in Taylorsville, UT, grew up in Orem and graduated from Orem High. I was happy to find this spot. I'll look forward to hopefully getting this gal some guidance and change of attitude in how she presents herself to the internet public, with the desire to improve the quality of her work before she becomes a laughing stock with Forbes 500, and various other entrepreneurial watchdogs who love opportunities to analyze and provide feedback as to why an online business is failing to thrive or quickly going under.
    Many regards,
    Bryan

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Bryan M. • 2 years ago

      Bryan,

      I'm glad you enjoyed my post! Please feel free to share this site with anyone you feel will benefit from it.

      Catia

      Reply
  20. Percy
    Percy • 3 years ago

    Please explain where you have to place the apostrophe(s) and why in case of multiple contractions in the same word.
    For example: the word 'hour' becomes 'o' in "2 o' clock".

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Percy • 3 years ago

      In contractions of multiple words, the apostrophe is still placed where the missing text is. "Two o' clock" is another way of saying "Two of the clock," so "o'" takes the place of "f the." Using "o'" was a common way to abbreviate "of the" or "of."

      Other contractions of multiple words exist in colloquial speech, such as "shouldn't've," but they should not be used in writing. Some words have two apostrophe's such as " 'n'," which stands for "and." A rule of thumb is to find out what the text is abbreviated from and put the apostrophe(s) where the missing text is. If you're not sure of the correct apostrophe placement, you can also try looking it up in the Merriam Webster Dictionary.

      Some additional tips about "o' clock" from The Chicago Manual of Style: the number in a phrase such as "two o' clock" should always be spelled out, and the phrase "o' clock" should never be used with a.m. or p.m.

      Reply
  21. Tamera
    Tamera • 3 years ago

    Hi, does 'The Crows Nest' need an apostrophe? Where there are multiple crows in the nest? Thanks

    Reply
    • Book Cave
      Book Cave Tamera • 3 years ago

      Hi Tamera. If you have multiple crows in a nest as in the following sentence, it will have the apostrophe after the S: The crows' nest was too high to reach.
      But if you're talking about crow's nest on a boat, then the apostrophe would be before the S. Hope this helps.

      Reply
      • Tamera
        Tamera Book Cave • 3 years ago

        great, many thanks!

        Reply
  22. Mike
    Mike • 4 years ago

    Which of these is correct? I'm trying to say Lyn is learning Latin.

    Lyns learning Latin.
    Lyn's learning Latin.

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Mike • 4 years ago

      It would be correct with the apostrophe: "Lyn's learning Latin."

      This is an example of a contraction, where the apostrophe is taking the place of the missing letter (the "i").

      Reply
  23. Ray Westney
    Ray Westney • 4 years ago

    "He dressed, at all times, like a girl and, it transpired, had been registered at a new general practitioner's as a girl."

    Is the apostrophe in 'practicioner's ' correct?

    Reply
    • Catia Shattuck
      Catia Shattuck Ray Westney • 4 years ago

      This looks like a case of ellipses, where the speaker leaves off a word that can still be understood from the context.

      So, the speaker's original intention was probably to say, "at a new general practitioner's office," in which case, the apostrophe is correct.

      The current wording is awkward without the word "office," and it would have been better to say "been registered by a new general practitioner," but since this is a direct quote, the articles this quote appears in leave the wording as is.

      Hope this helps!

      Reply
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