Correct Use of Apostrophes in English
The correct use of apostrophes is something that is a mystery to many people, even native English speakers, who will often use them inappropriately. However, when learning English as a second language or using English in your business writing, it is actually very important to know when to use apostrophes since using them inappropriately can make you appear to a reader as someone who is not fully conversant with the language and rules of punctuation.
There are basically two uses for the humble apostrophe; it indicates where letters have been deliberately left out or it denotes singular or group ownership.
Where the apostrophe shows that letters are missing, it is used thus: ‘can’t,’ ‘won’t’ and ‘don’t.’ The full spelling of these words would be ‘cannot,’ will not’ and ‘do not.’ The apostrophe indicates that there are letters not included where they normally would be, this is important because there may be a different meaning attached to a word without the apostrophe.
Where the apostrophe denotes possession, then it is used thus: ‘the dog’s paw’, ‘the boy’s hat’, etc. Here the paw belongs to the dog and the hat belongs to the boy. If the ownership is more than one person then the apostrophe is placed after the s. For example, ‘the boys’ hats.’
A golden rule to remember with the apostrophe is that it is never, ever used to render something plural. It is often incorrectly used in this way, for example by writing ‘banana’s’ instead of bananas.
Used inappropriately the apostrophe looks ill at ease and makes your work look clumsy; more importantly it stands out as glaringly incorrect to an educated reader. So be aware, particularly if you are writing business English, that you must carefully proofread your work. Use an online punctuation or grammar checker, just to ensure that all your apostrophes are in the right place.
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