***We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog content for the following public service announcement***
The holidays are supposed to be a time of fun and good cheer for all, but they are a sad time, alas, for the apostrophe. Yes, I mean that useful little punctuation mark who looks like a floating comma and who shows up, for example, in contracted words. The apostrophe has a rough time in general these days, but at year’s end, the proliferation of advertisements, invitations, gift labels, and greeting cards multiply opportunities for his misuse. And so, at the risk of seeming annoying-or even just plain rude-I offer the following punctuation rule of thumb in the spirit of holiday goodwill: remember, apostrophes don’t create plural words- not even plural surnames.
We all know how to make a word plural: add an s (or an es as necessary). No apostrophes required, right? You have one cat, but many cats; one box, but many boxes. Most of us wouldn’t think of writing “cat’s” if we really just mean multiple cats, or “box’s” if we mean the pile of cardboard things sitting on our floor. But for some strange reason, someone somewhere started a trend in which proper nouns- and surnames in particular- get apostrophes when they appear in plural form. So you see signs that advertise “lots of t-shirt’s for sale” or receive cards that say “Merry Christmas from the Smith’s.” These are needless apostrophes. Proper nouns and names get pluralized just like any other noun: add an s or an es, no apostrophe required. It’s “Remember the Titans,” not the “Titan’s”; “Meet the Fockers,” not the “Focker’s”; “Keeping up with the Joneses,” not the “Jones’s.”
What do apostrophes do? They show when letters are omitted, as in contractions (don’t, can’t, ‘tis), and they show possession (the cat’s meow, Bing Crosby’s song). Some suggest that these two uses are historically related, but we needn’t go there now. The main point is that the only time apostrophes bother with plurals at all is when something plural shows possession (my two dogs’ bowls, the cookies’ sprinkles). If a single thing shows possession, the apostrophe goes before an s that gets added on; if a plural entity shows possession, it goes after the s that already ends the plural word. That’s all. In the witty words of a Facebook group: “An apostrophe does not mean ‘Look out! There’s an s coming!’”
In summary, it’s (contraction of “it is”):
*One Rerecich, Three Rereciches
*Lindsay Rerecich’s obnoxious blog post.... (single thing showing possession)
*The Rereciches’ new home (plural entity showing possession)
So before you send out your greeting cards or party invites this season, think of your poor friend the apostrophe. He’s got enough on his plate with his two normal jobs; he doesn’t need the third task of creating plural words when the letter s and her assistant e already have it covered.
***We now return to your regularly scheduled program.***
The holidays are supposed to be a time of fun and good cheer for all, but they are a sad time, alas, for the apostrophe. Yes, I mean that useful little punctuation mark who looks like a floating comma and who shows up, for example, in contracted words. The apostrophe has a rough time in general these days, but at year’s end, the proliferation of advertisements, invitations, gift labels, and greeting cards multiply opportunities for his misuse. And so, at the risk of seeming annoying-or even just plain rude-I offer the following punctuation rule of thumb in the spirit of holiday goodwill: remember, apostrophes don’t create plural words- not even plural surnames.
We all know how to make a word plural: add an s (or an es as necessary). No apostrophes required, right? You have one cat, but many cats; one box, but many boxes. Most of us wouldn’t think of writing “cat’s” if we really just mean multiple cats, or “box’s” if we mean the pile of cardboard things sitting on our floor. But for some strange reason, someone somewhere started a trend in which proper nouns- and surnames in particular- get apostrophes when they appear in plural form. So you see signs that advertise “lots of t-shirt’s for sale” or receive cards that say “Merry Christmas from the Smith’s.” These are needless apostrophes. Proper nouns and names get pluralized just like any other noun: add an s or an es, no apostrophe required. It’s “Remember the Titans,” not the “Titan’s”; “Meet the Fockers,” not the “Focker’s”; “Keeping up with the Joneses,” not the “Jones’s.”
What do apostrophes do? They show when letters are omitted, as in contractions (don’t, can’t, ‘tis), and they show possession (the cat’s meow, Bing Crosby’s song). Some suggest that these two uses are historically related, but we needn’t go there now. The main point is that the only time apostrophes bother with plurals at all is when something plural shows possession (my two dogs’ bowls, the cookies’ sprinkles). If a single thing shows possession, the apostrophe goes before an s that gets added on; if a plural entity shows possession, it goes after the s that already ends the plural word. That’s all. In the witty words of a Facebook group: “An apostrophe does not mean ‘Look out! There’s an s coming!’”
In summary, it’s (contraction of “it is”):
*One Rerecich, Three Rereciches
*Lindsay Rerecich’s obnoxious blog post.... (single thing showing possession)
*The Rereciches’ new home (plural entity showing possession)
So before you send out your greeting cards or party invites this season, think of your poor friend the apostrophe. He’s got enough on his plate with his two normal jobs; he doesn’t need the third task of creating plural words when the letter s and her assistant e already have it covered.
***We now return to your regularly scheduled program.***
please do go there- how are they historically related???? Is it something like "you know Bing Crosby- his song" turns into Bing Crosby's song??
ReplyDeleteExactly!
ReplyDeleteAlso, strong masculine and neuter nouns in Old English form a genitive singular with -es
ReplyDelete