Questions relating to the use of the apostrophe (’).
38
votes
2answers
4k views
What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in “‑s”?
What is the possessive of a noun ending in ‑s? Are these both right, or is the second one wrong?
the boys' books
the boss' car
45
votes
5answers
12k 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 ...
35
votes
6answers
2k views
When did it become correct to add an “s” to a singular possessive already ending in “‑s”?
According to my grammar book, but at variance to the answer to this question, the correct singular possessive if a word ends in ‑s is:
James’s car
The grammar book allows exceptions for ...
5
votes
3answers
4k views
User’s Guide vs Users’ Guide
I’ve been looking over what has been posted regarding the use of ’s.
I used to be a Technical Writer (years ago). The title of one of our training documents was Users’ Guide. Once, a coworker said ...
17
votes
3answers
852 views
Possessive of a word that is already possessive
If the cricket ground Lord's is a possessive, what if you want to describe something belonging to Lord's? Would you say "I was very impressed by Lord's's customer services"?
It doesn't look right, ...
11
votes
4answers
4k views
What is the pronunciation of the possessive words that already end in s? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When did it become correct to add an ‘s’ to a singular possessive already ending in ‘s’?
Which singular names ending in “s” form possessives with only a bare apostrophe?
...
8
votes
2answers
1k 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 ...
22
votes
7answers
7k views
Plurals of acronyms, letters, numbers — use an apostrophe or not?
When I was in high school back in the 1970s, I was taught that to make a plural of an acronym, a letter, or a number, one should add an apostrophe and "s". Like I would have written this sentence, ...
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
216 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 ...
10
votes
5answers
4k views
Apostrophe-“s” vs “of ”
I gave a quick answer to part of this question which had not been covered by previous answers, trying to clarify the reason you would say time of decoding but not decoding’s time. I said it was ’s ...
2
votes
2answers
230 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 ...
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 ...
13
votes
2answers
620 views
Why is there a distinction between “its” and “it's”?
While I know technically the English language has a distinction because when there's a conflict between the possessive form and a contraction, the contraction wins. That is:
Its is the possessive ...
8
votes
2answers
742 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 ...
18
votes
2answers
30k views
Is there an apostrophe in a master's degree?
The question asks it all really. When referring to a master's degree, do you use an apostrophe or not? That is, is it "a master's" or "a masters"?
12
votes
4answers
589 views
Why did they spell it “URL’s”?
I was reading this documentation file of some software and note the plural spelling of this abbreviation is “URL’s”. Why isn’t it “URLs”?
11
votes
1answer
862 views
Origins of possessive pronouns
If apostrophe + s is the acceptable way of denoting a genitive in English, is it possible that possessive pronouns, such as hers, ours and yours, started life as possessive adjectives with apostrophe ...
4
votes
2answers
4k views
Where should the apostrophe go in “three days work”?
Which is correct?
1 Three day's work
2 Three days' work
3 Three days work
I would probably guess (2) is right, since the work belongs to the three days ("three days of work"). But I'm ...
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 ...
8
votes
1answer
324 views
Achilles heel and Achilles tendon
Studying possessive apostrophes I have searched on ELU the questions correlated to this matter.
I have found the following: «What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?» and ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Is “what’s” a correct short form of “what does”?
E.g. “What’s he think?”
Usually ’s is short for “is” so I don’t know.
5
votes
4answers
356 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”?
5
votes
3answers
1k views
How to indicate possession when using abbreviation “Dr.”
I often run into a case where I need to say I have a doctor's appointment, but how would I properly punctuate it if I wanted to use the abbreviation Dr. instead of the word doctor? Dr.'s appointment ...
5
votes
2answers
943 views
Plural name apostrophe position
At my English lesson the native English speaker couldn’t tell what is correct and promised to search it for us!
He told us that if James is one person then we should write
James' Book
but if ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
Do things use apostrophe for indicating possessive? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is using the possessive 's correct in “the car's antenna”?
If someone owns something I would say: Mom's car.
But if the owner is not a person, does ...
4
votes
3answers
595 views
Phrasing “An hour's rest”
I was just posting a question to the Homebrewing StackExchange, and I found myself pondering the proper way to express my sentiment.
I first wrote "an hour's rest", but upon review, I deemed the ...
13
votes
5answers
5k views
“Do's” and “don'ts” or “do's” and “don't's”?
I am making a list to my children telling them what are some of the things they should do and shouldn't. Under one side is "do", and the other is "don't".
Would I write "do's" and "don't's"?
Cause ...
10
votes
3answers
337 views
Where did the practice of using apostrophes for possessive nouns but not pronouns originate?
Where did the practice of using apostrophes for possessive nouns but not pronouns originate?
For example, possessive nouns (both proper and common) are written with a apostrophe before the final s:
...
8
votes
3answers
464 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 ...
7
votes
6answers
3k views
Apostrophes and caps in Happy Mother’s Day / Happy Mothers’ Day
So, I’m writing this as it is Mother’s (or maybe Mothers’) Day today, and I was wondering what would be a correct way to write that.
Should the apostrophe come be between the r and the s, or after ...
6
votes
1answer
186 views
“Dawkins'” or “Dawkins's” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When did it become correct to add an 's' to a singular possessive already ending in 's'?
I learned from school to use Dawkins', for example
That is ...
2
votes
2answers
1k views
Why do we use 's when not abbreviating is/was?
I'm not English hence I don't know how this is called in the first place (that's why the title of this question should be changed) but what I'm referring to is this "s" used in English language to ...
0
votes
1answer
187 views
What’s the pronunciation of “ s’ ”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the pronunciation of the possessive words that already end in s?
“The Weasley twins’ friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for
the match.”
Do ...
-1
votes
1answer
452 views
Apostrophes and s's [duplicate]
I always forget the rule about if something is possessive put 's at the end, for example "the sailor's hat". I know some people say to remember because it has a different meaning if it's plural (e.g. ...
10
votes
5answers
442 views
Are apostrophes actually needed?
I don't mean to make it grammatically correct I mean does English need them?
I can't seem to find a use case other than it's "legacy" in English, but that is never a reason to keep something around.
...
4
votes
3answers
205 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
301 views
How is “apostrophe s” used here?
I heard someone on a TV show say:
What's it all mean?
As far as I know, 's could be the short form of has and is. But in this case, it seems more like to be the short form of does. Am I correct?
...
4
votes
2answers
656 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
330 views
What’s the usage of apostrophes in “ ‘Bye, ‘bye ”?
I’d like to know what effect an apostrophe has which is before a word and doesn’t work as an omitter. (Not like C’mon or ‘Course, but like ‘bye, ‘bye.)
I have three questions as follows, but any ...
1
vote
1answer
5k 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.
10
votes
3answers
286 views
What proposals have been made to give the apostrophe some relief?
The apostrophe has a lot of jobs.
It makes things possessive,
it indicates the omissions of letters in
contractions and numbers in dates,
it is used to indicate strange
accents in dialog, and
it ...
8
votes
1answer
655 views
How did an apostrophe plus the letter “s” come to indicate possession? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Origins of possessive pronouns
How did English come to use "apostrophe s" to indicate possession, when it seems to me that few (if any!) other languages do (or do ...
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 ...
5
votes
2answers
4k views
What is the correct syntax for a plural possessive of a word already ending in s? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the correct possessive for nouns ending in s?
Before you vote to close as a duplicate, note that these two questions deal with similar issues to this, but none ...
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.
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Is the apostrophe (') supposed to be omitted in names like 'King's Cross', 'King's Singers'? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is it common for place names to lose the possessive?
I've always thought it should be 'King's Cross, London' as in a possessive sense. However the wiki page for King's ...
3
votes
1answer
251 views
St. John's greatest dinner: how to indicate a possessive of a noun which already ends apostrophe - s [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
If the cricket ground Lord's is a possessive, what if you want to describe something belonging to Lord's?
Here's a tricky one that I can't quite figure out the ...
2
votes
1answer
503 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
298 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 ...
