Properly Punctuated: Apostrophe, ‘

Revised as of
18 Mar 2023

Apostrophes contract, possess, or pluralize. And no, pluralize does NOT mean you add “apostrophe s” willy-nilly!

Apostrophes that Contract

By indicating a missing letter (or letters) with an apostrophe, the writer may create a more natural way of “speaking”, representing non-standard forms of a word, i.e., gi’ replaces give, a’ replaces all and is particularly used when recreating colloquial dialog or in poetry.

The most common “letter-replacement” method with which we are most aware is the contraction, i.e., I had not . . . becomes I hadn’t . . .“

Apostrophes Make It Plural

Possession is most commonly confused as being a form of pluralization. No. NO. Using an apostrophe to form a plural is EXTREMELY rare. When the apostrophe is used to form a plural, it should be because one needs to be very clear about making the word, number, or phrase a plural. Use CAUTION and pay attention to the style guide you’re using.

Apostrophes That Possess

Using an apostrophe to make something possessive is simple enough: one” adds apostrophe s“. Unless . . . Yes, it can get complicated, and again, you should refer to your style guide to see what their preference is OR as Chicago puts it: Choose the method you like and be consistent in using it.

The Properly Punctuated explores . . .

. . . the proper use of quotation marks, commas, semicolons, colons, ellipsis, etc., including how to properly mark dialog, ahem. As Properly Punctuated is in no way complete, I would appreciate suggestions and comments from anyone on punctuation with which you struggle or on which you can contribute more understanding.

If you found this post on “Apostrophe” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Apostrophe, ‘
Punctuation: ‘
General Rule
Apostrophes take the place of missing letters or numbers, indicate possession, and create plural forms.
POST CONTENTS: Contractions Pluralizing Words, Letters, Numbers Abbreviations Decade, Year Letter, Individual Numbers Symbol Words Proper Name Proper Noun Possessive indicates a belonging to something or someone Surnames of non-English origin Transliteration (converting foreign alphabets to English)
Contraction
Definition: Technically, a contraction is known as a clitic, a cross between an affix and a word. They are phonologically so short they can’t be pronounced alone and must be joined to another word. Using contractions sets a more informal tone to the story, post, article, etc., and your expected audience should be taken into account. In the reverse, eliminating contractions sets a more formal tone and is best used in formal papers, reports, term papers, or as a way to set a speaker in a novel apart from other characters. Not using contractions can make a character seem more formal, prissy, and/or snobbish.
Examples of Omission / Contractions / Colloquialisms
afraid	[Colloquial] ‘fraid
am not, are not, has not, have not, is not	[Colloquial] ain’t
another	[Colloquial] ‘nother
are not	aren’t
because	[Colloquial] ’cause
cannot	can’t
cannot have	[Colloquial] can’t’ve
cat-of-nine-tails	cat’o-nine-tails
could have	could’ve
could not	couldn’t
could not have	[Colloquial] couldn’t’ve
did not	didn’t
do not	don’t
does not	doesn’t
even	[Poetic/literary] e’en
forecastle	fo’c’s’le
had not	hadn’t
has not	hasn’t
have not	haven’t
Hallow even, Halloween	Hallowe’en
he had, he would	he’d
he is, he was	he’s
he will, he shall	he’ll
he will have, he shall have	[Colloquial] he’ll’ve
he would have	[Colloquial] he’d’ve
how had	how’d
how has, how is, how was	how’s
how will	how’ll
how would	how’d
I am	I’m
I had, I would	I’d
I would have	[Colloquial] I’d’ve
I have	I’ve
I will, I shall	I’ll
I will have, I shall have	[Colloquial] I’ll’ve
is not	isn’t
it is	it’s [Archaic] ’tis [Colloquial] ‘s
it is not	it isn’t it’s not [Archaic] ’tisn’t
it was	[Archaic] ’twas
it had, it would	it’d
let us	let’s
might have	might’ve
might not	mightn’t
must not	mustn’t
must not have	[Colloquial] mustn’t’ve
need not	needn’t
never-do-well	ne’er-do-well
of the clock	o’clock
old	ol’
over	[Archaic, Poetic, Literary] o’er
shall not	shan’t
she is, she was	she’s
she had, she would	she’d
she will, she shall	she’ll
she would have	[Colloquial] she’d’ve
should have	should’ve [Colloquial] should’a
should not have	[Colloquial] shouldn’t’ve
should not	shouldn’t
so as	so’s
suppose	‘spose
that is, that was	that’s
that will	that’ll
there had, there would	there’d
there is, there has, there was	there’s
they are, they were	they’re
they had, they would	they’d
they have	they’ve
they will, they shall	they’ll
was not	wasn’t
we are, we were	we’re
we had, we would	we’d
we have	we’ve
we will have	[Colloquial] we’ll’ve
were not	weren’t
what will, what shall	what’ll
what are, what were	what’re
what is, what has	what’s
what have	what’ve
when has, when is	when’s
where have	where’ve
where is, where has	where’s
where would	where’d
who are	who’re
who had, who would	who’d
who have	who’ve
who is	who’s
who will, who shall	who’ll
who will have, who shall have	[Colloquial] who’ll’ve
why are, why were	why’re
why has	why’s
why would	why’d
why is, why has	why’s
why will	why’ll
why would	why’d
will-of-the-wisp	will’o-the-wisp
will have	will’ve
will not	won’t
would not	wouldn’t
would not have	[Colloquial] wouldn’t’ve
you all	y’all
you all would have	[Colloquial] y’all’d’ve
you are	you’re
you had, you would	you’d
you have	you’ve
you will, you shall	you’ll
you will have	[Colloquial] you’ll’ve
you would have	[Colloquial] you’d’ve

Plural Forms
Definition: Form the plural of letters, numbers, signs, and of words referred to as words, i.e., words that are not nouns, and hyphenated phrases.
Abbreviations
	Apostrophe	NO Apostrophe
UPPER- and lowercase Letters
Return to top or post contents	Chicago: PhD’s	APA: PhDs CVs
Interior Periods	Rule: With interior periods.	Rule: Without interior periods.
Return to top or post contents	Chicago: M.A.’s Ph.D.’s	Chicago: MAs PhDs URLs IRAs
Exceptions
Return to top or post contents		Chicago: ed., eds. vol., vols.
Decade, Year	Rule: Use an apostrophe to indicate missing numbers.	Rule: Referring to a time period is considered a plural. Do not use an ‘s when pluralizing decades or years.
Return to top or post contents	Apostrophe	NO Apostrophe
	the ’60s, ’80s, etc. [Informal] 1997 = ’97	1960s, 1880s, 900s, etc.
Letter, Individual
lowercase letter
Return to top or post contents	Apostrophe	NO Apostrophe
	AP Style and Chicago Remember to dot all the i‘s and cross all the t‘s in that letter.	APA: Remember to dot all the is and cross all the ts in that letter.
UPPERcase Letter
Return to top or post contents	AP Style: She got all A’s, B’s and C’s.	Chicago: We need to connect the Xs and Ys.
Numbers
Arabic Numerals	Rule: When pluralizing Arabic numerals to be used as nouns.
Return to top or post contents	Apostrophe	NO Apostrophe
		APA and Chicago: 2s and 3s ands
Spelled Out Numerals
Return to top or post contents		Chicago: She was in her twenties or thirties back then.
Symbol
Return to top or post contents	Apostrophe	NO Apostrophe
	Chicago: the @‘s	APA: the @s
Words
Non-noun Word, Hyphenated Phrase	Rule: Pluralizing a word or hyphenated phrase that is not a noun. Chicago slips between adding an s or es to make it plural or using an apostrophe. Maybe is definitely apostrophe-essed.
Return to top or post contents	Apostrophe	NO Apostrophe
		APA: How many ands are in the second paragraph?
	Chicago: How many and’s are in the second paragraph? There are too many maybe‘s in this plan. If one uses too many maybe‘s, one should consider some yes‘s and no‘s as well.	Chicago: There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Keep in mind the dos and don’ts for a tea party. Yesses and noes are acceptable if maybe isn’t present.
Proper Names, Proper Nouns
Return to top or post contents	Apostrophe	NO Apostrophe
		Chicago: We play bingo on Thursdays. The Smiths are putting on a spread next week. The Americans are playing the Australians next week. Have you heard about the Thomases? The Smiths and Joneses are going bankrupt.
Possession
Rule: Ownership or possession is usually shown by the use of an apostrophe “s” (‘s). For a more in-depth look, explore Possessive.
arm’s length Literally, the length of the arm, so that length belongs to the arm As an idiom, it means to hold people away Smith’s pail the pail belongs to a person whose last name is Smith Joneses’ house the house belongs to a group of people named Jones steal someone’s thunder take credit for someone else’s idea or work cat’s in the cradle Literally, it’s a contraction for cat is As an idiom, it means someone is giving the millionth excuse
Surnames of Non-English Origin
O’Bannion The O’ is a replacement for Ó L’Hereux L’ means the with the apostrophe used to indicate a missing e (le) or a (la). D’Angelo An Italian name with the D’ indicating from or of. M’Gregor Evolved from a backwards apostrophe that became a superscript C with the current apostrophe replacing the missing letter
Transliteration
General Rule: When converting foreign words into English, apostrophes may be used to substitute for missing letters, to indicate a particular type of pronunciation or diacritic, or evidence of an elision (a missing sound or syllable).
Qur’an mus’haf Jun’ichirō Shin’ichi ha’kke ‘s morgens coup d’état maître d’hôtel pau-d’alho på sta’n ka’a

Return to top or post contents

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Properly Punctuated posts on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

Return to top or post contents

Resources for Apostrophe

Duke Computer Science. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://www2.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps006/summer03/examples/words/data/mobyhugewords.txt>. A short list of contractions, the expected and some unexpected ones.

“Possessive.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possessive>.

“Punctuation Marks.” Punctuation. Grammar. Enchanted Learning.com. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/punctuation/>.

Trask, Larry. “Possessives.” University of Sussex. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/punctuation/apostrophe/possessives>.

Return to top or post contents

Pinterest Photo Credits

Antsy is helping Katydid with some graphic visuals. Bit selfish, though.