Please learn to use apostrophes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh for crying out loud. I'm so tired of the grammar police on this site. Most of us are in a hurry and don't really care since it's anonymous. But it was nice of you to admit you had nothing better to do.

At least you used "it's" correctly there! Ha, ha, just kidding.

My big pet peeve is the holiday cards that say "Merry Christmas! Love, The Smith's"

The Smith's what????

Bleech!

[Anonymous]

My pet peeve is confusing "lose" and "loose." You don't loose weight!

[Anonymous]

I don't think anyone has clearly stated that the possessive form of "it" is "its." It's an exception to the general rule that you use an apostrophe to show possession. The reason it is an exception is because "it's" ALWAYS means "it is." Therefore, you'd say "The dog buried its bone. It's under the daisies." Get it? Of course, you don't have to care about this little rule. Unfortunately, though, many of us out here in cyberland (and perhaps those receiving your e-mails at work) will think you're a simpleton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh for crying out loud. I'm so tired of the grammar police on this site. Most of us are in a hurry and don't really care since it's anonymous. But it was nice of you to admit you had nothing better to do.

I've never really understood this argument. Does it take more time to be grammatically correct? I manage to use its/it's correctly without it slowing my writing.

[Anonymous]

Its tempting to start mispelling things diliberatley to annoy all you pedantophiles.

[Anonymous]

My big pet peeve is the holiday cards that say "Merry Christmas! Love, The Smith's"

The Smith's what????

You don't want to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apostrophes are used with CONTRACTIONS and to show POSSESSION.

I have a house. How come when I talk about its roof I can't apostrophize?

What about your pwecious little POSSESSION rule then, huh?

Because, if you can't say "it is" for "it's" then NO APOSTROPHE. A snake owns some skin, but "a snake sheds its skin", not "a snake sheds it's skin". C'mon peeps. It shows possession when you've got a proper noun.

[Anonymous]

Okay OP, answer me this. I've been wondering recently. If a word ends in an S but is singular, I believe to show possession one should use the apostrophe s:

Douglas's book

However if a word ends in an S because it is plural, then only an apostrophe follows:

the girls' books

Is that right? TIA to you grammar queens out there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apostrophes are used with CONTRACTIONS and to show POSSESSION.

I have a house. How come when I talk about its roof I can't apostrophize?

What about your pwecious little POSSESSION rule then, huh?

Because, if you can't say "it is" for "it's" then NO APOSTROPHE. A snake owns some skin, but "a snake sheds its skin", not "a snake sheds it's skin". C'mon peeps. It shows possession when you've got a proper noun.

While we're on the grammar topic, snake is not a proper noun. A proper noun is a specific name requiring a capital letter (i.e. Toyota, Washington, Deborah...).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay OP, answer me this. I've been wondering recently. If a word ends in an S but is singular, I believe to show possession one should use the apostrophe s:

Douglas's book

However if a word ends in an S because it is plural, then only an apostrophe follows:

the girls' books

Is that right? TIA to you grammar queens out there!

Your second example is correct, but your first example is up for debate. Some grammar sources say "Douglas' book", while others say "Douglas's book".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apostrophes are used with CONTRACTIONS and to show POSSESSION.

I have a house. How come when I talk about its roof I can't apostrophize?

What about your pwecious little POSSESSION rule then, huh?

Because, if you can't say "it is" for "it's" then NO APOSTROPHE. A snake owns some skin, but "a snake sheds its skin", not "a snake sheds it's skin". C'mon peeps. It shows possession when you've got a proper noun.

While we're on the grammar topic, snake is not a proper noun. A proper noun is a specific name requiring a capital letter (i.e. Toyota, Washington, Deborah...).

Of course snake is not a proper noun, which is why in the above case it is NOT POSSESSION (hence, NO APOSTROPHE). When I posted that I assumed that everyone knew snake was not a proper noun. Similarly for the "roof" example that someone asked about it is not possession, because roof is not a proper noun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone has clearly stated that the possessive form of "it" is "its." It's an exception to the general rule that you use an apostrophe to show possession. The reason it is an exception is because "it's" ALWAYS means "it is." Therefore, you'd say "The dog buried its bone. It's under the daisies." Get it? Of course, you don't have to care about this little rule. Unfortunately, though, many of us out here in cyberland (and perhaps those receiving your e-mails at work) will think you're a simpleton.

Actually, I correctly summarized the rule a little earlier.

The possessive adjectives (or determiners) are:

my, his, her, their, our, your, and its.

Although his and its both end with an "s" you do not need to insert an apostrope.

You use them this way: his book (not hi's book) its fender (not it's fender)

When they stand alone they are called possessive pronouns: mine, his, hers, theirs, ours, and yours.

Again, even though these words end with an s you do not insert an apostrophe.

The book is his. (Not, The book is hi's)
The clock is hers. (Not The clock is her's)
The blame is ours. (Not, The blame is our's.)

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone has clearly stated that the possessive form of "it" is "its." It's an exception to the general rule that you use an apostrophe to show possession. The reason it is an exception is because "it's" ALWAYS means "it is." Therefore, you'd say "The dog buried its bone. It's under the daisies." Get it? Of course, you don't have to care about this little rule. Unfortunately, though, many of us out here in cyberland (and perhaps those receiving your e-mails at work) will think you're a simpleton.

It is daring to call other people simpletons for grammar mistakes while writing the sentence "The reason... is because..."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay OP, answer me this. I've been wondering recently. If a word ends in an S but is singular, I believe to show possession one should use the apostrophe s:

Douglas's book

However if a word ends in an S because it is plural, then only an apostrophe follows:

the girls' books

Is that right? TIA to you grammar queens out there!

Your second example is correct, but your first example is up for debate. Some grammar sources say "Douglas' book", while others say "Douglas's book".

Not the OP, but to clarify the PP's correct statement: for names (as opposed to other nouns like books) it often depends on which style manual you use. It's a very tricky issue.