One use of the punctuation mark known as the apostrophe is to show ownership or possession. People can be said to “own” many kinds of objects, and they can also “own” ideas and other non-material things.
There are (no surprises here) several rules to keep in mind when indicating ownership by placing an apostrophe at the end of a word, before or after an s usually. One rule has to do with whether there is one (singular –‘s) who owns or more than one (plural – s’) who owns whatever it is.
Consider, for instance, the following examples:
“Jim’s surf board” - only he owns it.
“The surfers’ waves” - they all say they own them.
Spelling matters when it comes time to placing apostrophes. Some nouns are already plural, like the word “children,” so the apostrophe is placed the same way it is for a singular noun, before the s instead of after the s – “the children’s teacher.”
Confused yet? The rules start to become even more interesting (in the sense that maybe we should all review them now and then to refresh our memories) when trying to figure out what belongs to whom and exactly how to punctuate to indicate ownership with the right singular or plural possessive form. A dictionary helps at times, especially when in doubt about whether oddly-spelled (irregular) nouns are singular or plural – one woman, many women. A word such as “deer” does not have a plural form (one deer or eight deer, so one deer’s habitat is punctuated the same as fifty deer’s habitat).
Possessive pronouns add to the mix of questions about using apostrophes to indicate ownership. With words like her or hers, his, theirs, our or ours, no apostrophe is needed since by definition the possessive pronouns already indicate ownership.
There are other ways apostrophes are used, too; but right now the sun is shining and the beach is not very far away. Apostrophes, additional uses, can wait until another day.
See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! ‘Til then, hang ten, not 10!
Roxy Writer, Tutor Blogger for the Stone Writing Center at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas.
5 comments:
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