Apostrophes: How to Use Them Right?

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Apostrophes have two essential uses in the English language. They are used to form contractions, a combination of two words. Common examples of apostrophes in contractions include: doesn’t turn into won’t, can’t into can’t, won’t into won’t, they have in they have and we are in are. In contractions, apostrophes generally represent the missing letters of the second word, although this is not an exception.

The second use of apostrophes is to indicate possession. In this case, the apostrophe suggests a possessive connection between subject and noun. Examples include: Nancy’s car, Bill’s idea, Harold’s use, and the boy’s stuffed animals. There are some words in the English language that indicate possession without requiring an apostrophe. These are possessive pronouns like my, his, hers, their, yours, or ours. There is no need to include an apostrophe with these words because the pronoun already indicates possession. In fact, a common mistake is to use the word it’s to indicate possession. It’s actually a contraction of words that it is, and incorrect usage can obscure the meaning.

A common mistake in using apostrophes is using one each time you add one to a word to make it plural. Unless you’re indicating possession of something, a plural word never needs an apostrophe. Here is an example of incorrect use of the apostrophe:
The parents were happy that the school year had begun.

Using an apostrophe like this, this sentence should read:
The parent is happy that the school year has started.
Instead of expressing a plural, the use of the apostrophe here makes the word a contraction of the words parent and is. Correct usage would not include an apostrophe. The sentence should be written:
The parents were happy that the school year had begun.

The rules about what to do with apostrophes and words ending in an s can be a little complicated. Some generalize the rule that you can add an apostrophe or just the apostrophe. That is, whether you write about Dickens or Dickens is a matter of personal preference.

Many sources, including Strunk and White’s Elements of Style and Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL), provide different and somewhat more complicated rules. Both of these sources note that the apostrophe and additional s should generally be added regardless of the last letter of the word. Thus, it would be Dickens or Charles, not Dickens or Charles. The last s, however, should be omitted in the following circumstances:
possessives of ancient proper nouns ending in “es” or “is” (for example, Socrates),
the possessive of Jesus (ie, Jesus’), e
plural nouns ending in an s (e.g. house’ or friends’)

It is also important to note that an apostrophe and an s should be added to the end of a shapeshifting word, rather than ending with an s, when it is pluralized. For example, the plural form of child is children and the plural form of mouse is mice. To indicate possession with these types of words, add an apostrophe followed by an s. For example: The children’s rooms were very messy or the mice’s main concerns were surviving the winter. These shouldn’t be written as children and mice.

When a plural word is the same as a singular word, like the word fish, apostrophes can be a little more confusing. If you are talking about a single fish, the correct form is fish to indicate possession. Words that are pluralized with es generally indicate possession by putting the apostrophe at the end of the word. Some scientists use the term fish to talk about more than one species of fish at the same time. For example: the difference in the habitat of these fish is striking.
When thinking about when to use apostrophes, it’s important to remember their two uses, possession and contraction. Apostrophes don’t belong when you’re not trying to string two words together or indicate possession. Remembering this and keeping a good style manual handy can help you decide how to use them correctly and determine the exceptions that may exist with individual words.

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