Apostrophes and Ellipses

The apostrophe has three uses:

1) to form possessives of nouns

2) to show the omission of letters

3) to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters.

Apostrophes are NOT used for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals, including acronyms.

How to make a noun possessive: To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:

the boy's hat = the hat of the boy; three days' journey = journey of three days

Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules to create one.

1. add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s): the owner's car; James's hat

2. add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:

the children's game; the geese's honking

3. add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:

houses' roofs; three friends' letters; the Joneses' car

4. add 's to the end of compound words:

my brother-in-law's money

5. add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:

Todd and Anne's apartment

Showing omission of letters: Apostrophes are used in contractions. A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. The apostrophe shows this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go. Here are some examples:

don't = do not

I'm = I am

he'll = he will

who's = who is

shouldn't = should not

didn't = did not

could've= could have (NOT "could of"!)

'60 = 1960

Forming plurals of lowercase letters: Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them). Here are some examples:

p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, from "mind your pints and quarts"

Nita's mother constantly stressed minding one's p's and q's.

three Macintosh G4s = three of the Macintosh model G4

There are two G4s currently used in the writing classrom.

many &s = many ampersands

That printed page has too many &s on it.

the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969

The 1960s were a time of great social unrest.

Don't use apostrophes for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals. Apostrophes should not be used with possessive pronouns because possessive pronouns already show possession -- they don't need an apostrophe. His, her, its, my, yours, ours are all possessive pronouns.

I wrote an Apostrophe 101 document for training purposes. The areas of contention are:

Never, Never, Never, Ever use an apostrophe in a plural. Ever*.

In Britain this is known as "The Grocer's Apostrophe", presumably because they used to leave school at twelve to work in Dad's grocery shop. "Cabbage's 30p/lb", "Carrot's 50p/lb". Certain words, for instance those that end in 'x',can take "es" as an indication of plural or can retain the Latin form, e.g. "vertex" and "vertices". "Vertexes" is fine though. Certain collective nouns for animal remain the same as the singular, deer, sheep and moose, for instance. Others modulate, like "tooth/teeth" and "mouse/mice".

*In the matter of acronyms, although apostrophe-s is incorrect, it improves readability and is therefore becoming accepted. e.g. FRC's "Fellows of the Royal College" which means something different from FRCS "Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons" . Pedant that I am, I can let that go by.

Apostrophe - s, unless the word ends in s, in which case just tack an apostrophe on the end. e.g. "Keeping up with the Jones'" and not "the Jones's" or "Joneses. "Bill's dogs' vet bills were mounting"

An apostrophe can indicate missing letters, e.g. "should've" and "could've" for "should have" and "could have". And NOT "should of" or "could of".

"He wait's for a bus". "Mom go's to the mall". Should be "He waits for a bus" and "Mom goes to the mall". When stating the verb forms for those categories of the person that end in 's' you MUST NOT use an apostrophe.

• First find the PV of the sum of $80 that is received in year 1. Using interest factor (1yr @7%) tables found in most finance text books that will be $74.80 ($80*0.935)
• Next you need to find the PV of annuity for two years of $300 @7%. Using interest factors this will be $542.20 ($300*1.808). But this is the PV at year 1 since the payments started in Year 2. Now you need to convert this PV to year 0 by using the interest factor for a sum for one year and multiplying $542.20 by this factor (0.935). This will give a result of $507.14
• Finally you need to find the PV of annuity for six years of $700 @7%. Using the interest factors this will be $3336.90 ($700*4.767). But this is the PV at year 3, so you will need to convert this to PV @ year 0 buy multiplying this # by the interest factor for the PV of a sum for 3 yrs @7% (0.816) to get $2722.91
• Now you add the three results together to get the present value @ year 0: $74.80 + $507.14 + $2722.91 to get the answer of $3304.85

The rules for apostrophes vary with the type of word. Learn where to put apostrophes so that your writing is clear and correct. In short, apostrophes are frequently used to indicate possession and in contractions, but generally not to pluralize.

Avoid using an apostrophe to indicate a plural. The incorrect use of an apostrophe to form the plural is called the greengrocer's apostrophe, since grocers are often the worst (or at least the most visible) offenders. If you have more than one apple, then write apples, not apple's. If you cannot replace the word with "his," "her," "their" or "its" and if it isn't a contraction, then an apostrophe should not be used.

#

#* People often forget the rules when a word ends in a vowel, such as the word "mango." Many people write "mango's" instead of "mangos" or "mangoes". #* An exception to this use is in the case of making a single letter plural. Therefore, Why are there so many I's in the word "indivisibility"? is correct. This is simply for clarity reasons, so the reader does not mistake it for the word "is." However, in modern usage, the preference is to avoid inserting an apostrophe and instead surround the single letter in quotation marks before pluralizing it: Why are there so many "I"s in the word "indivisibility"? #* Similarly, apostrophes can be used when talking about a word (e.g., this list contains a lot of do's and don't's) but quotation marks can make it clearer ("do"s and "don't"s). #* An exception can also be made for numbers and abbreviations, although some consider this old fashioned, illogical and unnecessary.

#** "I bought many CD's in the 1990's." Incorrect. #** "I bought many CDs in the 1990s." Correct. # Use apostrophes to indicate possession. There are two basic methods that make use of an apostrophe in constructing the possessive. Most words use an apostrophe followed by an "s" at the end of the word, although many situations require simply an apostrophe. #* Place an apostrophe before the "s" when you are indicating a singular possessive, unless the name or word ends in "s," in which case either is correct. (James's dog or James' dog, Dickens' novel or Dickens's novel)

#** "Jacob's shoes are very cool." The shoes belong to Jacob (singular: one person). #** "I found the dog'sold bone buried in the backyard." The bone belongs to the dog (singular: a single dog). #* Place an apostrophe after the "s" when you are dealing with a possessive plural case that has an "s" at the end (e.g., book to books, tree to trees). But if the word is plural without an "s" at the end, this rule does not apply; add an apostrophe and an "s" as if the word were singular.

#** "Look at all of the sailors' boats!" The boats belong to the sailors (plural: there is more than one sailor). #** "The children's dresses were pink and frilly." The dresses belong to the children, but since the word children is alreadyplural without having to add an "s" at the end, this is an exception. # Use apostrophes in contractions. Sometimes, especially in informal writing, apostrophes are used to indicate one or more missing letters. For example, the word "don't" is short for "do not"; other examples include "isn't," "wouldn't," and "can't." Contractions can also be made with the verbs "is," "has," and "have." For example, we can write "She's going to school" instead of "She is going to school"; or "He's lost the game" instead of "He has lost the game." A similar usage can be found in the notation of calendar years, as in '07. In this case, the apostrophe appears in the spot where the missing numbers would have been (before the number, not after as in 07'). # Be aware of the its/it's trap. Use an apostrophe with the word "it" only when you want to indicate a contraction for "it is" or "it has." Its is a pronoun, and pronouns have their own possessive form that does not use an apostrophe. For example, "That noise? It's just the dog eating its bone." This may seem confusing, but it follows the same pattern as other possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, yours, ours, theirs.

* For singular names ending in "s," the Chicago Manual of Style adds an "s" after the apostrophe, as in "Charles's bike." If your work or assignment requires you to adhere to one convention or another, then do so. Otherwise, either form is acceptable so long as it is consistent throughout a single piece of written work. * "Apple's 89¢ a pound," literally means that "apple" owns "89¢ a pound" (the possessive) or "Apple is 89¢ a pound" (a contraction). * The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is a very short and handy guide to writing and punctuation. Keep a copy of this book nearby when you're writing and refer to it if you're unsure about usage. * If you want to write about a party given by Luke and Ashley Smart and all their children, write "the Smarts'party" (Smarts is a plural, then add the possessive apostrophe). * If you have trouble applying the rules for a possessive, rephrase the sentence to use "of" and place the apostrophe after the word in question. For instance: "Look at all of the sailors' boats!" becomes "Look at all of the boats of the sailors" and you can place the apostrophe after "sailors" to make "sailors'". Or, "The children's dresses were pink and frilly." becomes "The dresses of the children..." and so the apostrophe goes after "children" to make "children's". * If ever in doubt, always remember that apostrophes are almost always used in nouns to show possession. Avoid using apostrophes for anything else.

* Throwing in apostrophes willy-nilly quickly shows that the writer does not understand the rules about possessives, contractions, and plurals. If in doubt, err on the side of leaving out the apostrophe. * Don't put an apostrophe within your name on your return address label. If your surname is "Greenwood," then "The Greenwoods" is correct, while "the Greenwood's" is incorrect. "The Greenwoods" indicates the residence of more than one person with the surname Greenwood, not some sort of possession. * Never write "her's." Her's is not a word, just as you would not write "him's". Recall that possessive pronouns do not need an apostrophe: his, hers, its, yours, ours, theirs. * When a word ends in "y," as in "try," take extra care when changing the verb form. For example, "try" does not become "try's". "Tries" is correct. * Do not use apostrophes or quotation marks for emphasis. For example, take a billboard that says: Joe Schmo, the "best" realtor in town! It makes the word "best" appear sarcastic, and untrue, rather than emphasized.

There are two accepted forms for possessive singular nouns ending in s:

Add an apostrophe (') after the existing s at the end of the word: Lois'

Add an apostrophe s ('s) after the existing s at the end of the word: Lois's

Examples:

I met Lois' mother at the meeting.

I met Lois's mother at the meeting.

Note: The -s's is the most commonly used form, but if you are a student, use the form that is preferred by your teacher.