Thanks to a very nice comment from a reader of my previous post, I feel obligated to express my concern with how poorly understood the lowly apostrophe is by most writers. Just a teeny little line placed between two letters - but it seems more and more people just don't get it!The most important thing to understand is that the apostrophe does NOT make anything plural. Most words in English become plural by adding an "s" to the end of it. One cat...ten cats. One dog...three dogs. Just because something is abbreviated or somehow doesn't fit the norm, doesn't mean you automatically add an apostrophe. One TV...two TVs. One PC...an office full of PCs. No apostrophe. Two TV's or a bunch of PC's is WRONG!
Now, if you're writing about something that belongs to the TV or PC, that's completely different. The apostrophe is used for possessives. The TV's speaker is broken. The PC's keyboard is white.
I hope you can see the difference.
One area in which the apostrophe is almost universally used incorrectly is in relation to dates and decades. Maybe some examples will show proper usage:
There were a lot of hippies in the 1960s. (Plural - not a possessive, hence no apostrophe.)
Woodstock was a 1960's phenomenon. (Possessive - it belongs to the decade.)
Most people really mangle this when they start abbreviating the decade. There's a very simple way to remember what's correct, thanks to a television show that did it RIGHT!
That '70s Show
The apostrophe is correctly used as a substitute for the 19 and there is no apostrophe after the number because it is a plural, not a possessive.
So don't use an apostrophe to make plurals of any sort. Ever.
If you can understand the difference between a plural and a possessive, you shouldn't have any problems knowing when to use the apostrophe and when to just add an "s". The thing is, you're going to see lots and lots of examples of improper usage in everything you read and see today. I encourage you to sanctimoniously point out the error of the author's ways at every opportunity!
2 comments:
Ahhh... one more that is often used wrong: it's and its
it's raining outside (it is)
its bark is loud (dog, possessive)
I was directed to your site for the TVs example. Nicely explained. Teach me to argue with my editor.
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