When to use apostrophes - Laura McClure

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It’s possessive. It’s often followed by S’s. And it’s sometimes tricky when it comes to its usage. It’s the apostrophe. Laura McClure gives a refresher on when to use apostrophes in writing.

Lesson by Laura McClure, animation by Karrot Animation.

Is it a flying comma,
or a quotation mark chopped in half?

Either way, you may already be well-versed
in how to use the apostrophe,

but here's a quick refresher on its usage.

The apostrophe can be used in three ways:

to mark possession,

to mark contraction,

to mark the plural of single letters.

Most of the time, if you see an apostrophe
hovering helpfully near a word,

it's trying to mark possession
or contraction.

First, let's look at how the apostrophe
marks possession.

As you can see, the placement
of this punctuation mark

can really change
the meaning of a sentence.

"Those robots in
the sand are my sister's."

"Those robots in
the sand are my sisters.'"

"Those robots in the sand are my sisters."

When showing possession, the apostrophe
belongs next to the noun

that owns or possesses something.

The noun can be singular or plural.

Proper nouns work, too.

So if Lucy needs to get her robots
under control before they cause mayhem,

those dangerous creatures
would be "Lucy's robots."

But what if Lucy was Lucas?

Would we write "Lucas' robots"
or "Lucas's robots"?

And what if Lucas gave his robots
to the Robinsons family?

Would it be "The Robinsons' robots,"
or "The Robinsons's robots"?

The truth is, even grammar nerds
disagree on the right thing to do.

The use of 's after a proper noun
ending in s is a style issue,

not a hard and fast grammar rule.

It's a conundrum
without a simple answer.

Professional writers solve this problem
by learning what's considered correct

for a publication, and doing that.

The important thing is to pick one style

and stick with it
throughout a piece of writing.

One more wrinkle.

Certain pronouns already
have possession built in

and don't need an apostrophe.

Remembering that will help you avoid one
of the trickiest snags in English grammar:

its vs. it's.

"It's" only take an apostrophe when it's
a contraction for "it is" or "it has."

If you can replace "it's" with
one of those two phrases,

use the apostrophe.

If you're showing possession,
leave it out.

Otherwise, contractions
are pretty straightforward.

The apostrophe stands in
for missing letters,

and lets common phrases
squash into a single word.

In rare cases, you can have
a double contraction,

though those generally
aren't accepted in writing,

with the exception of dialogue.

So it's possessive,
it's often followed by s's,

and it's sometimes tricky
when it comes to its usage.

It's the apostrophe.