The apostrophe

Apostrophes are simple creatures with multiple uses. They can indicate possession:

• the criminal’s intentions …

as well as the number of subjects with possession. The example above referred to one criminal, whereas the next refers to more than one:

• the criminals’ intentions …

Indicating possession with an apostrophe can get tricky when the noun ends in an s. Some writers are happy to simply add an apostrophe and another s, as in:

• Icarus’s wings

I prefer the neater:

• Icarus’ wings

Although I would still pronounce the extra s.

Apostrophes are often used to create contractions (single and less formal words) from pairs of words, such as:

• it is = it’s
• we are = we’re
• they had = they’d
• you have = you’re

It’s, which I’ve blogged about previously, is commonly but mistakenly used to denote possession by something of non-specific gender such as a bicycle (it’s tyre is flat); the correct word is its – no apostrophe!

Apostrophes are also very frequently wrongly used to create plurals – we’ve all seen advertisements containing things like:

• used car’s for sale
• mens’ haircut’s $15
• record’s, DVD’s, everything must go

Note that mens’ is also wrong, as ‘men’ is already plural so the apostrophe comes before the s.