[stylist] grammatical usage of apostrophes

[Barbara Hammel]

But you would use the apostrophe if you said the Smiths' house is the second 
on the left, wouldn't you?
Barbara




Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. -- Carl Sandburg
-----Original Message----- 
From: loristay at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 10:25 AM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] grammatical usage of apostrophes

This is a technical answer to a question no one has asked, but it's nagging 
to be answered anyway.


Simple plurals do not take apostrophe s.  The apostrophe for the most part 
indicates possession or the dropping of a letter.  For example, do not 
becomes don't.  But if we are talking about a family, say, the Smiths, then 
there is no apostrophe.  Mr. Smith, of the Boston Smiths ( S m i t h s), 
will be visiting the New York area shortly.


In some areas, the possessive is built into the word.  So for example, His 
bed means the bed belongs to him, and no apostrophe is necessary.  The bed 
is hers--now it belongs to her, but still takes no apostrophe.  The word 
"its" (i t s) meaning something belongs to "it" such as -- the dog dropped 
its ball--takes no apostrophe.  The apostrophe in the word "it's" (i t ' s) 
means that the word is short for "it is."


(apologies ahead to dog lovers who object to the objectification of the 
dog.)
Yours grammatically,
Lori
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