I intended to write a guide covering various aspects of grammar, but as it can be a dry subject, it seemed easier to focus on one area at a time. I decided to start with an item of punctuation that a lot of people struggle with – the apostrophe.

I have to confess, there are times when I’m not certain either and have to stop and think. Although I’m never guilty of a grocer’s apostrophe: “tomatoe’s, potatoe’s” and so on!

Grammar Rules Explained

The Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation by John Seely explains it like this:

1. To show that one or more letters have been missed out: “he is” becomes “he’s” and “did not” becomes “didn’t”

2. To show possession – this is where people can trip up. When you’re talking about one person, use the apostrophe then the “s”, so: “Miss Smith’s car”. When there is more than one person, write “s” and then the apostrophe: “The Smiths’ house” (where all the Smiths live). This means using “s” apostrophe when the word is a plural noun ending in “s” (i.e. a group of something). So: “eagles’ nest”, “boys’ school”.

Be careful with “it”: “it’s” means “it is”: “It’s raining outside.
“Its” means “of it”: “We read War and Peace in its entirety”.

Where Apostrophes Aren’t Used

Also remember that things like CDs don’t need an apostrophe – you aren’t writing it to show that you’ve missed out all of the other letters, you are simply using the initial letters. Likewise, “1960’s” is incorrect, as if it was written out in full it would be “nineteen sixties” (more than one year in that decade). This one is a bit contentious, actually, as the spell-checker doesn’t like it! My mum, who used to teach, says that convention has changed on this in recent years, so the apostrophe isn’t used anymore.

The Grammar for Time

Finally, this is an important point from A Practical English Grammar by Thomson and Martinet: When you’re talking about aspects of time, the apostrophe takes a different position depending on the sentence:

“A week’s holiday” or “Tomorrow’s paper” – essentially “A week of holiday” or “The paper of tomorrow” but
“Two days’ break” or “Twenty minutes’ time”, meaning “Two days of break” or “Twenty minutes of time” because days and minutes are both plural.

I hope this is helpful. Read it through a few times and come up with your own sentences if you like. I think getting your punctuation right gives a professional polish to your writing