“I have Two Mommies, I know where the apostrophe goes”

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The incorrect use of the apostrophe s never impresses. English teachers, especially, are particularly annoyed when they see the apostrophe s used incorrectly in pupils’ work. My brother is an English teacher and in his book Text – A Transition Year English Reader he explains how and when to use the apostrophe S. Take a few minutes here and you will never make the mistake again.

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SINGULAR means ONE; PLURAL means MORE THAN ONE. Dog [singular] means ONE dog. Dogs is the PLURAL form of dog. Dogs means more than one dog. Therefore ADD an s if you want a PLURAL: e.g. dog, dogs; cat, cats; umbrella, umbrellas; diamond, diamonds, stethoscope, stethoscopes, paragraph, paragraphs phone, phones….. [Some words change their original spelling when they become plural: e.g. hero, heroes, potato, potatoes, child, children] If you write a year in numbers, e.g. 1960, 1930 you add an s if you wish to refer to a decade. In the 1960s The Beatles were very popular. In America in the 1930s there was an economic depression.

A NOUN is a word that names a PERSON, PLACE or THING: Graham (person), Dublin (place), cake (thing). If you wish to refer to more than one, add an s. There are three Grahams in my class. Dublin is the capital of Ireland but there are other Dublins in the world. I ordered four cakes for the party. If you wish to say that Graham is studious you may write it as Graham’s studious. The apostrophe s in this instance means that a letter is missing: Graham’s [Graham is] studious. Dublin’s beautiful means that Dublin is beautiful. The cake’s delicious means The cake is delicious.

Now, get this: If you wish to say that something belongs to a NOUN (a person, place or thing) you add an apostrophe s. Graham’s house means that the house belongs to Graham.

Dublin’s nightclubs are terrific means that the nightclubs in Dublin are terrific. The cake’s icing is delicious means that the icing that belongs to the cake is delicious. W.B. Yeats’s poetry is impressive means that the poetry that belongs to Yeats is impressive. The 1960’s fashion for flared trousers is not much admired now.

A PRONOUN is a word used instead of a noun [pro, Latin, means ‘for’]. Examples of pronouns include he, she, it, they, them . . . . If you wish to indicate that something belongs to a noun, add an apostrophe s. BUT BUT BUT pronouns that indicate that something belongs to them (in other words pronouns that indicate possession) NEVER HAVE AN APOSTROPHE S. If you wish to say that something belongs to him, write HIS. It is his. If you wish to say that something belongs to her, write HERS. It is hers. If you wish to say that something belongs to it, write ITS. Its paw was wounded.

IT’S means it is or it has AND NOTHING ELSE.

It’s means IT IS or IT HAS: It’s (it is) raining; It’s (it has) been a wonderful day. It’s (it has) been a long day. And if you can’t follow all of that just don’t use the apostrophe s ever again. It is better to leave out an apostrophe than put one in incorrectly.

It’s not that difficult to grasp this grammatical rule.

This excerpt is taken from Text – A Transition Year English Reader by Niall MacMonagle. It is available in Ireland from all bookstores that sell school books. It is available on line HERE There’s much more to Text than the apostrophe! There are also 3 Apps available for the Learving Cert – learn more HERE The cartoon is published by The New Yorker magazine and prints of this and other cartoons can be purchased HERE