The Correct Uses of the Apostrophe

Know the proper uses of an apostrophe.

There may have been times when you've read an email from a friend or read something on paper that had the misuse of apostrophes, and a little twinge of annoyance ran through you. There are four basic reasons to use an apostrophe: to show possession, to construct a contraction, to show plurals and to show two people talking in the same sentence, or a quotation within a quotation. Whether you're a student writing papers or a professional in the workplace, it's important to know the proper uses of an apostrophe.

Show Possession

Use an apostrophe to show possession of something. For instance, you would say, "The house's shutters were falling off." The house is what possesses the shutters, so you add an apostrophe and an "s" at the end of what has ownership. An exception is the word "its." You would not write, "The dog digs it's hole near the tree." Although the word aims to show possession, the apostrophe here would not show possession, but rather a contraction of "it is," where the apostrophe is taking the place of the letter "i." The sentence should read, "The dog digs its hole near the tree."

Construct a Contraction

Use an apostrophe to construct a contraction, or shorten a word. The apostrophe takes the place of a letter or letters. Examples are haven't, couldn't, wouldn't shouldn't, he's, it's and so on. If you were to take out those apostrophes, you would have two words for each contraction shown: have not, could not, would not, should not, he is and it is. Keep in mind that using contractions in many professional settings isn't acceptable, but it's still a good idea to know the proper way to form a contraction.

Show Plurals

Use an apostrophe to show plurals of letters, numbers and words. To show a plural for a letter, you would write, "Don't mispronounce your th's." To show a plural for a number, you would write, "It's important to know our alphabet and our 1's, 2's and 3's." To show a plural of a word that, you would say, "My professor made me omit the etcetera's from my paper." Note the distinction of making nouns plural (which is done by merely adding "s" or "es" and no apostrophe, as in nos and yeses) and referring to having several of a particular word (as in "No's and yes's were written all over the page.").

Quoting More than One Person

Use an apostrophe to indicate that you are utilizing two quotes in the same sentence. You would write, "I told the mechanic that my engine light kept going on but he specifically said, 'The problem that you're experiencing should not trigger the check engine light.' " The first quotation is set in double quotations, the second quotation is set in single quotations. To close both quotations, you must include a single and a double quotation mark.

References

• UCMO: Use the Apostrophe in Four Ways