Jan 20, 2017 apostrophes also show possession, or that something belongs to someone. Learn whether it s teachers strike or teachers strike, writers strike or writers strike, and homeowners association or homeowners association. However, this is always incorrect yours is the only correct spelling. The first audiobook to come from the holt agreement, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips to clean up your writing, was named one of the top five audiobooks of 2007 by itunes. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for students is a complete and comprehensive guide to all things grammar from grammar girl, a. Apostrophe s the apostrophe s s serves two functions. Oct 02, 2014 some people thought it was a mark of elision, so the king s book was a shortening of the king his book. A bewildered lovebird, a big family, a bullet in the heart, a dream of passion, a few days from the life of i. By the way, i disagree with grammar girl regarding the possessive of a singular noun ending in s. Did you know that a bad apostrophe like bananas for sal. Like computer s and shakespeare s in the previous paragraph, beverly hills is a possessive noun. The idea that theirs needs an apostrophe comes out of the fact that on virtually every other word, s indicates possession, so english speakers sometimes think theirs should be spelled their s. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for.
On the playground, jake stole the girl s jump rope. Complete with a writing style guide chapter, this guide is sure to become the one stop, essential book on every students desk. This page is for people who know the difference between it s and its. The apostrophe has been partnered up with the letter s in a few different roles over the last 500 years, and as with many relationships the goalposts have shifted a little over time. To form the possessive of singular nouns, add s, as in homers job or the dogs breakfast. To show possession by one person, use an apostrophe and add an s. Plural words that dont end with s, such as children, do take an apostrophe s at the end for possession. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide worth avenue. A new victorias secret ad abuses an apostrophe, but unfortunately, its a common error. When she does need to be technical, she lets the reader know and often apologizes or adds some humor. The sophisticated group took away gold, silver, and bronze medals for their wins in 100word hyphen, apostrophe toss, errorringing, and a final relay race in which they inserted commas, semicolons, hyphens, and apostrophes. This rules out each others, as the possessive apostrophe must be there.
Apostrophes quick and dirty tips get grammar girl s take on apostrophes. The clever text explains some fairly complex punctuation rules in a humorous way that certainly beats any boring grammar workbook. She is also the founder of the quick and dirty tips podcasting network. As a tip, the ap stylebook says that if a longer form of the phrase uses for or by rather than of, an apostrophe usually wouldnt be needed in the shorter version. An apostrophe is the mark when it is written to indicate that one or more letters have. The english apostrophe s and s apostrophe cause a lot of problems, even for native speakers. Possessive s year 4 apostrophe spag worksheets plazoom. Read grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing online. Sometimes, it s called the grocer s apostrophe because of how frequently it is spotted in grocery store advertisements 3 orange s for a dollar. Let s take a look at some of the various approaches for this possessive. Therefore, you should stick to that in the exercises below.
Grammar girl likes the ap style guide s recommendation that singular nouns ending s simply have an apostrophe. She wants to know why boss s has an apostrophe and an s but chris has only an apostrophe. Plural words that dont end with s, such as children, do take an apostrophes at the end for possession. With very few exceptions, apostrophes do not make nouns plural. Jun, 2012 mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. Our post apostrophes with names ending in s, ch, or z says, to show singular possession of a name ending in s or z, some writers add just an apostrophe.
Apostrophes apostrophe rules the blue book of grammar. When an apostrophe s is followed by an adjective like in the first example. For plural nouns that dont end in s, add apostrophe s. Cartoonstyle illustrations in bright citrus shades help get the punctuation points across effectively. If you dont, but would like to, check out a website such as. Some people think that what the apostrophe is doing is going back to our old english roots. The apostrophe with numbers, letters, and abbreviations. The only difference is that the plural of woman doesnt end in an s. However, if the name or word itself ends in s for example, dress or ozymandias, then you find yourself in muddier waters.
See rules 1b and 1c of apostrophes for more discussion. Lyle, md part of the howdunit series with everything you ever wanted to ask about forensics, but were. Apostrophe definition and meaning collins english dictionary. Apostrophe catastrophe part two quick and dirty tips. Mignon fogarty authors macmillan macmillan publishers. If a word ends in s, ch, or z, how do you make it plural.
In other style guides, chris takes an apostrophe and an s. In special cases, such as when forming a plural of a word that is not normally a noun, some writers add an apostrophe for clarity. The apostrophe for possessives was added by 18thcentury grammarians who thought the possessive came from a lost form where it was provided by a separate word rather than a special. She is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame, and the show is a fivetime winner of best education podcast in the podcast awards. Aug 12, 2019 if the word ending with s is plural, add an apostrophe at the end to make it possessive. Unless your editor wishes otherwise, if you write books, spell it dos and donts. Aug 08, 2019 mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. It was common in the masculine and neuter genitive cases, the king s book,for example, to add an es at the end of the noun to show possession. For words that end in ss, like boss or business, there s another choice for you to make. Grammar girl presents the ultimate writing guide for students by. Apostrophes quiz 2 the blue book of grammar and punctuation.
Grammar girl quick and dirty tips for better writing on apple podcasts. Read unlimited books and audiobooks on the web, ipad, iphone and. Apostrophes and false possessives the blue book of grammar. You may find that certain names ending in s add only an apostrophe. Add just an apostrophe, or add an apostrophe plus an s, as in the boss. Article from learnenglishwithdemi quick grammar lesson. The truth is that chris takes just an apostrophe only if you follow the rules in the the associated press stylebook. Mignon fogarty born 1967 is a former faculty member in journalism at the university of nevada, reno, and a former science writer who produces an educational podcast about english grammar and usage titled grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing, which was named one of the best podcasts of 2007 by itunes.
This week, i talk about what s up with the weird apostrophe in ruth s chris steak house and where we get plac. Add just an apostrophe, or add an apostrophe plus an s. The apostrophe in the contraction doesnt seems to make people want to use an. Mignon fogarty, whose popular podcasts have been downloaded over twenty million times and whose first book, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing, was a new york times bestseller. Grammar girl gives clear explanations with helpful examples. I bet even a high schooler who struggles with apostrophes would benefit. How to use those tricky apostrophes diary of a word nerd.
Feb 10, 2018 according to the associated press stylebook, we dont use an apostrophe when that first word ends in an s if its a descriptive phrase. However, it is considered to be better english to use s. Possession johns car, a friend of mine english grammar. Grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing is an educational podcast produced by mignon fogarty that was launched in july 2006 and the title of a print book by fogarty that was released in july 2008. Fogarty said both men were correct, but that she preferred leaving off the extr. Grammar girl s book is useful because she avoids the overtechnicalities that so many grammar and usage instructors use.
For example, you could write, fortunately, the childrens room had a hidden doorway, with childrens written as children apostrophes. The possessive form in english is formed by adding s at the end of a noun, unless it is a plural noun, in which case we write just an apostrophe, e. Grammar girl happy birthday to helen fielding, author of. Recognizing the quirk ways to get this book grammar girls quick and dirty tips. This lesson s task is to help you learn about possessives and contractions that need apostrophes and plurals that dont. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. The grammar girl website is often included in writer s digest s list of the 101 best websites for writers, and mignon has written numerous books including the new york times bestselling grammar. Possession john s car, a friend of mine english grammar today a reference to written and spoken english grammar and usage cambridge dictionary. Using an unnecessary apostrophe to form the plural of a noun is a very common mistake. If it appears after the s, then it will most likely be plural, i. It will certainly ease you to see guide grammar girl presents the ultimate writing. She wants to know why boss s has an apostrophe and an s but chris has only an apostrophe the truth is that chris takes just an apostrophe only if you follow the rules in the the associated press stylebook.
But we could turn it into an adjective by removing the apostrophe. The apostrophe is placed after the plural form of the word. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon. Mignon fogarty created the grammar girl podcast in july. Jul 17, 2008 for the curious megan let me thumb through her book, and it is basically transcripts of her podcasts. The most common punctuation error of all the blue book. Jun 26, 2015 when to use the apostrophe s in english or just the apostrophe. If youre an expert english grammarian, mignon fogarty s grammar girls quick and dirty tips. The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive. Learning about the different publishing genres will help you describe a book so that. However, this is always incorrect theirs is the only correct spelling.
Jan 09, 2018 it s one of those grammar glitches that makes english teachers twitch, and it s a perplexing punctuation problem. Heres the scoop on when to use apostrophes to make. The idea that yours needs an apostrophe comes out of the fact that on virtually every other word, s indicates possession, so english speakers sometimes think yours should be spelled your s. Add s to make abbreviations plural, but make sure its a small s, not a capitalized one and dont use an apostrophe. An apostrophe and the letter s are used to show possession. Same with abe jones s campaign is picking up steamwe could also say the abe jones campaign is picking up steam. However, some names, such as jesus, moses, achilles, and charles dickens historical names that end in a z sound, can end with either an apostrophe or s. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips to clean up your writing unep.
Inspired by the summer olympics, i led the punctuation games for a client yesterday. Paula, an executive assistant, wrote to ask me to continue the discussion of apostrophes. If the apostrophe appears before the letter s then it may denote that the possessive case is singular, i. Knowing when to use an apostrophe and when to use apostrophe s can be tricky, but this grammar quickie provides all you need to know about plural versus possession when it comes to apostrophe s. Girl book ss grammar girl grammar girl grammar girls apostrophe after z. We use a childrens book and a shakespeare play to talk about borrow and. And that is the solution we need to examine in each instance the intention of the writer or speaker, whether is it to affirm possession or to describe.
Add the apostrophe to regular plural forms the girls room is very nice the smiths car is black add s to irregular plural forms the children s books are over there men s clothes are on the third floor if there are multiple nouns, add s only to the last noun peter and john s mother is a teacher if there are multiple nouns that refer to one personthing add s. Grammar girl several people have asked if theres an. Apostrophes quiz 1 from the blue book of grammar and punctuation. The most common punctuation error of all the blue book of. Girls the apostrophe before the s occurs in leonard maltins movie guide. My students linger over the pages of the book, pondering both the meaning and the artwork. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. The noun was made plural first and then the apostrophe was added.
Posters for the movie have a third variation, girls, the apostrophe after the s. This book rates as two stars or four, depending on who you are. Dec 29, 2016 mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes. Read grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon fogarty with a free trial. Note that when you want to form the s genitive for a name that ends on s, you have two possibilities. What is the correct way to add a possessive to a plural. Other dormitorywithgirls movies are girls dormitory 1936 and bad girls dormitory 1985 the latter without the apostrophe but both without werewolves. If the word ending with s is plural, add an apostrophe at the end to make it possessive. Learn how to make plural words possessive, how to make words that end in s. In july 2008, holt released fogarty s first paperback book, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing. As contraction to indicate one or more letters was dropped. Recently, the leading online editing and proofreading company, was fortunate enough to interview online goto grammar expert mignon fogarty, also known as grammar girl, to ask her some questions about her most popular tips and her status as the web s grammar authority. When to use apostrophes for plurals writing with proper.
Its good for middle school too, because it is that engaging. A phenomenon named grammar girl outlines 9 ways to use an apostrophe but left me unclear whether it s a girls school or girls school. Both are correct, though the second one is favoured. For plural nouns that end in s, just add an apostrophe. She recently weighed in on a dispute over apostrophes that divided. Jul 24, 2019 use an apostrophe plus s to show the possessive form of a singular noun, even if that singular noun already ends in s. Pdf dictionary of languages nermina nikezicpasanbegovic. Some writers and editors add only an apostrophe to all nouns ending in s. The webster s adds that in grammar shows the omission of a letter dont for do not and, in the possessive case, originally showed the omission of the letter e in the inflectional ending of the case i understand that girl s dress was written girles dress. This rules out each others, as the possessive apostrophe must be there in the case of each other, other is in the singular because it.
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