What's an apostrophe?

Half of a set of closed quotation marks?
A comma way up in the air?
"That little thingie?"

These are all terms frequently used to describe the apostrophe (pronounced a-POSS-tra-fee), one of the most abused and misused punctuation marks in America today. The purpose of these web pages (aside from meeting the requirements of a final project for an HTML class) is to teach the proper use of the apostrophe and to provide resources for further study of this oft overlooked but nonetheless important piece of punctuation.

A Definition:

The apostrophe (') is a mark used to indicate the omission of letters in words like you're (you are) or to indicate possession in phrases like John's homework. (It looks a bit like a comma, but it is placed above the line of writing and serves a completely different purpose.)

Three Simple Rules for Apostrophes:

Apostrophes indicate missing letters in contractions.

don't = do not
can't = cannot
you're = you are
we'll = we will
it's = it is
(Pay special attention to that last one.)

Apostrophes are used to show possession (ownership).

Jim's house
Mary's car
the dog's tail
the sun's rays
Charles's book
(More on possessive plurals in a moment...)

APOSTROPHES ARE NOT USED TO PLURALIZE WORDS!

This is the most common error with apostrophes. In some grammar circles, it is a sin on par with premeditated murder. To solve this problem would wipe out most apostrophe abuse in America today.

Of course you can't have rules without exceptions, right? There are always a few tricky little issues that complicate matters and cause huge amounts of confusion. In the case of the apostrophe, the problems arise when making plural words (or singular words that end in s) possessive and with the use of the words its and it's.

To learn more about the exceptions and complications of apostrophes, click here!