Apostrophes: Worth the Trouble
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
Apostrophes: Worth the Trouble
Newsflash: apostrophes are not optional. If they ever become so, the writer-reader relationship will be one step closer to dysfunctional. Still, many casual scribblers would rather not be bothered.
Apostrophes are a lot easier for those who slow down and do what it takes to get them right. For instance, to show possession with singular nouns that don’t end in s, all you have to do is add ’s (girl’s, farm’s, love’s). Most people can handle that. Admittedly, trouble arises with certain other kinds of nouns. We will deal with some of those problems in weeks to come.
Today we’ll examine singular nouns that end in s, with lens, cactus, and series as examples. Such words can become confusing when they are made plural, then made possessive.
To form the singular possessive form of a word like lens, just add ’s: the lens’s reflection. But how about more than one lens’s reflection? The key rule is this: To show possession with a plural noun ending in s, add only an apostrophe. You can’t go wrong if you take this in two steps. First write the plural, lenses. Then add an apostrophe … and there you are: the lenses’ reflection.
It’s different with cactus, because the plural is cacti. The key rule is this: To show possession with a plural noun not ending in s, add ’s. So, depending on your meaning, you would write either the cactus’s spines for one cactus* or the cacti’s spines for two or more cacti.
Now consider series, which is the same word whether singular or plural. If a scientist has conducted a sequence of lab experiments, we would write about the series’s outcome. Because we mean one series, we add ’s, just as we would do with any singular noun.*
But what if the scientist then ran another cycle of tests and compared it to the first? Then we’d be reporting on the two series’ results. Because we mean more than one series, we add only an apostrophe to series, just as we would do with any plural noun ending in s.
*Note: Although we endorse an ’s for all possessive singular nouns ending in s, not everyone agrees. Some writers and editors add only an apostrophe: the bus’ route, my boss’ orders.
Then there’s the Associated Press Stylebook, which generally backs the ’s but prescribes only an apostrophe when the word that follows begins with an s. This means that the Associated Press would recommend the cactus’s needles, but also the cactus’ spines because of the first s in spines.
Does that seem odd to you, too?
Pop Quiz
1. That specie’s/species’/species’s status was changed to endangered.
2. McDermott is the people’s/peoples’ choice.
3. Those company’s/companies’/companie’s profits are way up.
4. Her many dress’s/dress’/dresses’ hangers were strewn around the room.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. That species’s status was changed to endangered. (but some would endorse species’)
2. McDermott is the people’s choice.
3. Those companies’ profits are way up.
4. Her many dresses’ hangers were strewn around the room.
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Regarding apostrophe’s how do you account for :
“he took one week’s holiday”
It is not a possessive as the week was did not miss having a holiday as a result.
The writer most likely means “He took one week’s worth of holiday (or vacation in American English). The worth in this case belongs to the week. You could also write “He took a one-week holiday” or “He took a one-week vacation.”
How would you show ownership?
Is it The Spikes’s Kitchen or is it The Spikes’ Kitchen?
If you are referring to more than one person whose last name is Spike, write “The Spikes’ Kitchen.”
The AP rule that depends on whether the following word starts with an S does indeed seem strange. I have never heard of that in my entire life, and I am typically familiar with the the various authorities’ prescriptions on style and usage (whether or not I agree with those prescriptions). Is anyone aware of a precedent for that rule?