Questions relating to the use of the apostrophe (’).
1
vote
3answers
518 views
Possessive Form of a Proper Noun Ending in a Plural Noun Ending in “s”?
I don't think this has yet been covered in any of the other questions on similar topics. There was one other very similar question, however, it was not specifically talking about the case where the ...
3
votes
1answer
141 views
Apostrophe and plurals of abbreviations [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the correct way to pluralize an acronym?
I was in Middlesbrough yesterday and spotted:
CJ’s Cafe
So far, so good, I thought. A selection of the delights within ...
5
votes
4answers
332 views
Usage of apostrophe in “baker’s dozen”
In the phrase “baker’s dozen”, why does the apostrophe indicate possession of a (single) baker? Shouldn't it indicate possession of all bakers in general? Shouldn’t it be “bakers’ dozen”?
0
votes
1answer
119 views
What will be the possessive form of the word “Tipsy” used as a noun? [closed]
The Microsoft Word grammar check shows "Tipsy's" to be wrongly formed. I thought "Tipsy'" would do the job and it was shown as correct. However, it occurred to me that Tipsy does not end in a 'z' or ...
4
votes
3answers
204 views
apostrophe that goes with a noun which precedes a phrase
Suppose you wanted to place a possessive apostrophe in this sentence:
Billy, who goes to my school, favorite game is tag.
I know it's not standard, but I can hear kids (or older) saying an s sound ...
0
votes
3answers
138 views
Seasonal parsing: “enjoying Re-run's of Christmas' past” — fragment, pluralization and ownership
enjoying Re-run's of Christmas' past
I just saw this posted as a Facebook status update, and it has boggled me as to how it should be considered or how it should be rewritten. If re-runs belong ...
3
votes
2answers
743 views
“Each person's car” vs. “each persons' car”
Which of the following is correct?
Each person's car has four wheels.
Each persons' car has four wheels.
0
votes
2answers
7k views
How do you show possession with the word “year” (“year's” vs.“years”)?
So, I develop for a company that does workplace-surveys. And one of our report-formats has just been translated into English. And with it a description on how to read the reports. This description ...
7
votes
4answers
6k views
What is the possessive of “you guys”?
Most people seem to stumble over this. The problem can arise with any multi-word phrase that needs a possessive but ends in S, and so sounds awkward using the clitic apostrophe-S. I've heard this ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
How do I correctly use the possessive apostrophe with a parenthetical citation?
Is the apostrophe in the right place in the following sentence?
Pendleton, et al. (2002)’s research implies that extension of treatment allows for greater weight loss.
0
votes
1answer
1k views
How to use possessive apostrophe with words in quotation marks?
How to us possessive apostrophe with words in quotes? For example,
...a few days later I discovered that those five little boys were not that well-behaved (as I firstly thought). In fact they were ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
What possessive pronouns do have an apostrophe?
I was explaining it's vs. its to someone the other day, and I said "None of the pronouns (his, hers, theirs, yours, its, whose, ...) has an apostrophe." Later I got to wondering whether that was ...
1
vote
2answers
1k views
Possessive plural of country? [closed]
Is it countries? Country's?
I originally thought the latter but this would suggest a singular country?
4
votes
1answer
753 views
Is an apostrophe with a decade (e.g. 1920’s) generally considered “incorrect”?
I typically don’t use an apostrophe with plurals in any situation, but I always assumed that the use of an apostrophe in constructions like acronyms:
Forty BA’s were given out to students this ...
2
votes
3answers
2k views
How do I pronounce “s's” and “s'”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?
Pronouncing possessive words that already end in s
How do I pronounce possessives that end with the awkward ...
1
vote
3answers
11k views
How do you write “a class's constructor”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?
I want to write this sentence:
In a singleton pattern, a class's
constructor needs to be private
instead of ...
0
votes
2answers
173 views
“Boys bicycle” vs. “boy's bicycle” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
User’s Guide vs Users’ Guide
When describing, for example, a bicycle for boys as "a boys bicycle", should it be "boy's" or "boys"? The phrase is not implying ownership ...
8
votes
2answers
697 views
Is “ ’s ” ever correct for pluralization?
A relatively modern dictionary (I don’t know which one, because we’ve cut out the pages and used them as wallpaper in our bathroom, but I know it’s less than 20 years old) indicates that R’s is one ...
4
votes
2answers
605 views
Does the Oakland Athletics logo misuse the apostrophe?
For years I have thought the Oakland Athletics baseball team has misused the apostrophe. I've always thought the "A" is an abbreviation for "Athletic" and the "s" makes "Athletic" plural. Is my ...
5
votes
9answers
1k views
Just how important are grammar and spelling?
A blog post of mine made it on the Hacker News front page. My blog post was mainly intended for a very, very small audience, but ended up getting around 20,000 views in one day. The most talked about ...
1
vote
2answers
143 views
Apostrophe in multiple plural posession [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Nikki’s and Alice’s X” vs. “Nikki and Alice’s X”
Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities
(writers' and teachers' ...
45
votes
5answers
11k views
“My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner”
I just stumbled upon a Reddit post titled:
My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner. How does it look?
Sure enough, the top comment immediately points out that it should be "my wife's and ...
3
votes
1answer
8k views
How do I abbreviate “little” correctly?
As I understand it, apostrophes are used to show where a letter/letters are missing (e.g. shouldn't-> should not, hadn't-> had not).
So when I abbreviate "little", is it correct to write:
li'l'
...
2
votes
3answers
269 views
Using apostrophes with plural and possession
We have something going to print today, but everyone in the office is arguing as to where to correctly place the apostrophe in the sentence (if at all!)
The sentence is:
Bring your event into the ...
1
vote
1answer
92 views
To apostrophe or not to apostrophe [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
User’s Guide vs Users’ Guide
I am sorry if this is really obvious but I can't work out from Wikipedia if it's right to use one here. My English is terrible but I try:
...
9
votes
2answers
786 views
Apostrophes in contractions: shan't, sha'n't or sha'nt?
I came across the word sha'n't when reading Winnie the Pooh the other day and it cast me into a Thoughtful Mood concerning the Appropriate Spelling of this word.
This word is a contraction of "shall ...
0
votes
1answer
304 views
Apostrophe `s` and adjective [closed]
I'm a bit confused if I can use adjective after a noun with apostrophe s.
I broke Jim's fragile figure.
I broke fragile figure of Jim.
For example, which of these two sentences is correct?
0
votes
2answers
156 views
Using of 's, 've and 'd: official or colloquial? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Using contracted forms (“don't”, “let's”) in a formal text
Usage of contractions like “it's” and “that's” in ...
1
vote
1answer
216 views
Did President Obama break punctuation rules in his tweet? [closed]
After Clint Eastwood's RNC convention speech, President Obama tweeted as follows:
This seat's taken.
Did he break any apostrophe punctuation rules? I am guessing he didn't as I haven't heard any ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
“Your company name” or “Your company's name”?
Which way is correct here? Some explanation would be appreciated.
1
vote
1answer
4k views
“'n'” as an abbreviation for “and” as in “rock 'n' roll”
I wonder if there are other cases where and is abbreviated in writing as in rock 'n' roll.
7
votes
1answer
1k views
“2 hours' worth” or “2 hours worth”?
I think "1 hour’s worth" is the correct way to write this. Therefore, in the plural case, I assume the correct choice is "2 hours’ worth". Which one is it?
Just wondering because someone edited a ...
10
votes
1answer
1k views
Is it common for place names to lose their possessive apostrophe?
On a road trip, my wife and I drove by Kings Dominion. We debated whether this should in actuality be King’s Dominion. It seemed that it ought to be possessive, or possibly plural possessive.
Upon ...
16
votes
3answers
1k views
Apostrophe in “beginners guide”
In the phrase beginners guide to …, where should the apostrophe go?
Beginner’s Guide to […]
Beginners’ Guide to […]
In my particular case, this is the title for a presentation so there are ...
2
votes
3answers
283 views
Can an “s”-form plural follow an “s”-form possessive?
This is best described via an example. I believe this might be technically correct, but sounds clumsy:
You need to look through all the chemicals shelves
There are multiple shelves, of type ...
2
votes
2answers
205 views
User’s/Users’/Users Group [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“User's guide” vs. “users' guide”
If referring to a Users Group (meaning a group made up of multiple individual users who have some ...
2
votes
1answer
712 views
Members’ Benefits vs Member’s Benefits [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Where should the apostrophe go in the word “beginners” in “beginners guide”?
I’m currently developing a site which has a membership scheme which ...
0
votes
0answers
52 views
How do I express possession of an item owned by enumerated groups of several individuals? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Nikki's and Alice's X” vs. “Nikki and Alice's X”
Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct ...
2
votes
1answer
491 views
Apostrophe after Proper Noun ending with s [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?
When did it become correct to add an 's' to a singular possessive already ending in 's'?
Today's ...
2
votes
3answers
2k views
“One of my friend's father” vs. “one of my friends' father” [duplicate]
Duplicate:
Possessive form of “one of [a list]”?
Plural possessive with separate posessions
What is correct:
One of my friend's father is serving in the Navy.
One of my ...
2
votes
3answers
836 views
“My parents' friendship with…” vs. “my parent's friendship with…” vs. “my parents friendship with…”
Which of these is correct please, if any?
my parents' friendship with Sally's parents
my parent's friendship with Sally's parents
my parents friendship with Sally's parents
What is the ...
2
votes
0answers
30 views
24-hours notice vs. 24-hour's notice vs. 24-hours' notice [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Phrasing “An hour's rest”
In the sentence
"You must provide 24-hours notice."
which is correct:
24-hours notice
24-hour's notice
24-hours' notice
20
votes
2answers
343 views
Use of lone apostrophe for plural?
I've been reading William Manchester's book "American Caesar", which is about Douglas MacArthur, and I found that he uses a strange convention for pluralizing the family name. When talking about the ...
0
votes
3answers
435 views
Using apostrophe s before gerunds (nouns ending in `-ing`)
I understanding that the following sentence is reasonably good for expressing the given idea.
(1.) This method is likely to be biased since this requires participants to bring their own laptops.
...
1
vote
1answer
281 views
Multiple people possession [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is “my wife and I's” correct, or should it be “my wife's and my”?
Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by ...
0
votes
0answers
62 views
Which is the correct: “John and Bob's phones” or “John's and Bob's phones” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities?
Which of the following two statements are correct:
Can you call John ...
8
votes
2answers
967 views
Preferred way to apostrophise in case of dual or multiple ownership by distinct entities [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Nikki's and Alice's X” vs. “Nikki and Alice's X”
Consider describing the wedding of X and Y. If I want to avoid the overly-formal ...
6
votes
2answers
210 views
“Nikki's and Alice's X” vs. “Nikki and Alice's X”
Which option is grammatical?
There will be readings from Nikki Giovanni’s and Alice Walker’s writings.
There will be readings from Nikki Giovanni and Alice Walker's writings.
Saying it ...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Apostrophe usage on proper nouns already having one [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Possessive of a word that's already possessive?
There is a famous pizza restaurant named "Domino's". In our city their rivals accept vouchers issued by Domino's. The ...
8
votes
3answers
438 views
What rules determine the apostrophe placement in “ham 'n eggs” and similar expressions?
In expressions such as "ham 'n eggs", the conjunction 'n appears to replace and, yet there is only one apostrophe to indicate the missing a and none for the missing d (i.e., no "ham 'n' eggs").
Is ...
