One of many quirkiest, some may say dumbest, elements of the English language is making phrases possessive.
The primary henchman for finishing up this process is the common-or-garden apostrophe.
How precisely the apostrophe is used to indicate possession is difficult, and we’ll get to that. First although, let’s take a look at another makes use of of this floating comma.
Omitted letters or numbers
Use the apostrophe to point when letters have been disregarded (as an illustration, in contractions like “isn’t” or “I’ve”) or when numbers have been dropped (as in, “the summer time of ’69,” or “the roaring ‘20s.’”)
Single letter plurals
If you have to make one letter plural, add an apostrophe, as in “straight A’s.” Nevertheless, don’t use this identical course of for numbers: Simply add an s, as in, “he gave me my change in $1s.”
For quotes inside quotes
In the event you’re quoting somebody who’s quoting somebody, use a single quote — aka, an apostrophe — throughout the citation marks, as in: “Proper earlier than she dumped me, she stated, ‘you’ve been taking part in video video games for the final 19 hours.’”
Possessives
With these minor makes use of out of the best way, let’s deal with the gnarly mess that’s possessives.
Let’s begin straightforward and ramp it up.
To make a phrase possessive that doesn’t finish in “s,” you usually merely add an apostrophe and an “s,” even when the phrase is already possessive. So as an illustration: elephant’s toes, deer’s antlers, males’s socks.
In the event you’re utilizing a joint phrase, similar to “the elephant and the deer’s toes,” solely the second noun will get the possessive, not the primary.
Now’s the place issues get a little bit difficult and exhausting to recollect.
When you’ve got a correct noun that ends in “s,” simply add an apostrophe to make it plural: Carlos’ piano, the Smiths’ home, Arkansas’ capital.
However, simply to maintain issues spicy, if it’s a standard (non-capitalized) noun ending in “s,” you add an apostrophe and one other “s”: costume’s zipper, iris’s petals, disaster’s conclusion.
Be aware: that is an up to date rule. In earlier variations of AP fashion, you added solely an apostrophe if the following phrase began with an “s” as properly. It’s a small mercy that we now not must keep in mind that.
However in fact, there are nonetheless exceptions.
AP fashion says to not add an “s” to the phrases “for look’ sake,” “for conscience’ sake” and “for goodness’ sake.” However this solely applies in these particular constructions — another plural possessive type of these phrases name for an apostrophe “s.”
This can be a good time to remind you that you just don’t must observe all of AP fashion guidelines. So long as you’re constant, be happy to craft your individual exceptions — or select to disregard sure facets of AP fashion altogether in the event that they’re cumbersome or don’t suit your wants. Simply be sure you’re protecting all the pieces updated in your in-house fashion information.
Sure, these guidelines will be complicated and exhausting to recollect. However maintain your fashion information useful, make your self a cheat sheet on a Put up-It and simply deal with being internally constant.
Allison Carter is govt editor of PR Day by day. Comply with her on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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