Help Stamp Out Apostrophe Abuse!
Never use the apostrophe (that’s the little mark like this ‘ ) to make words plural. It’s wrong; it’s annoying, and it makes your writing look amateurish. The plural of apple is not apple’s—it’s apples!
When you see ‘s at the end of a word, you should automatically think one of two things: possession or something missing. Because that is generally what the apostrophe is for. It tells you that something is owned by something or someone else—-Is this the girl’s book?—-or it tells you that something is missing in the word—-That’s the man! (the letter I is missing from the words “that is,” which have been contracted into one word).
Note: In actuality, both examples indicate something missing, but we don’t really acknowledge the first. You see, possession is historically indicated by the phrase “of the” (so that we would have “That is the book of the girl.”) It’s easier, more efficient, and faster to drop “of the” and say ” ‘s” (so we have “That is the girl’s book.”) We’ve been doing this for so many centuries that most people don’t know that the most correct way to indicate possession is use of the phrase “of the.”
The apostrophe is never, never, NEVER used to make a word plural.*
To make a noun — any noun — plural, add -s to the end of the word. (boy, boys; bee, bees; Mr. Johnson, the Johnsons)
EXCEPT
- If the word ends in X, add -es to the end of the word. (fox, foxes)
- If the word has more than one syllable and ends in Y, change the Y to I and add -es to the word. (berry, berries)
- If the word ends in F, change the F to V and add -es. (elf, elves; hoof, hooves)
- There are some “irregular plurals” which you must simply memorize. I’ve included a few examples, but any good grammar reference will have an extensive listing.
- These keep the same form for both singular and plural: moose, fish, sheep
- These change form completely: mouse, mice; goose, geese; alumnus, alumni
- Many Latin-derived words use -a or -ae to form the plural: phenomenon, phenomena; datum, data; medium, media; alumna, alumnae
- Certain Latin-derived words ending in EX form the plural by changing the EX to IC and adding -es: index, indices; appendix, appendices; matrix, matrices; codex, codices
- There are yet other words which have more than one plural form, depending on the degree of plurality or the country in which your English is spoken:
- cow, cows (a few, up to a herd), cattle (a large number, bigger than a herd),
kine (a generally archaic plural still heard in Australia, Scotland, and Ireland) - pig, pigs (a few), swine (a large number, and this form is less-used in modern times)
- cow, cows (a few, up to a herd), cattle (a large number, bigger than a herd),
For proper nouns, the names of people or places, the rule is simple. Add -s or -es. To make it both plural and possessive, and -s’ or -es’.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson love opera. The Johnsons love opera. The Johnsons’ names are in the programme.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones love opera. The Joneses love opera. The Joneses’ names are in the programme.
Mr. and Mrs. Mouse love opera. The Mouses love opera. The Mouses’ names are in the programme. (Note that we don’t change the Mouses’ name to “Mice.”)
Just remember: The apostrophe is never, never, NEVER used to make a word plural.*
* All right, well, there is one exception: if not using an apostrophe would cause confusion, such as when leaving the apostrophe out would create another word (“As” or “Is” would be confusing, so you may use “A’s” or “I’s”) then you may use the apostrophe to form plurals in these kinds of cases only.
13 Comments
great post…
Also, acronyms and abbreviations also follow this rule (hence, the repeated theme of “never” in your post). For instance, in high technoglogy lexicon, “business-to-business companies” = “B2Bs.”
Mum
Will you please educate me in the use of ellipses? Also, what is the rule about using them with question marks, the spacing, the rule of thumb for frequency.
I need a refresher course after a critique I did yesterday.
On the subject of apostrophes — never in plurals:
The apostrophe is to denote ommision of letters, as in can’t, o’clock. The use of the apostrophe to denote possession is an extension of that rule. John’s book is a contraction of John, his book. (Sorry, feminist people, in the ubiquitous way of refining our language to fewer forms, English speakers have decided that all possessions are male)
Thus the use of apostrophes in plurals is misleading and annoying. Also, in my opinion, abbreviations should not be given the spurious lower-case s to denote a plural. Abbreviations are to (duh) abbreviate. Mother-in-law and mothers-in-law both are abbreviated MIL.
good point…
…on mothers-in-law.
Oh thank you…
You are a godsend. My grammar isn’t perfect, but I think everyone should endeavor to improve their grammar. After reading so many blogs by professional writers who overlook basic grammar, I wanted to rip my hair out. Maybe reading your posts will help!
My pet hate illustrated in vivid technicolor. Thank you.
Thi’s can never be said enough! I hate it when people’s use apostrophe’s the wrong way, man!
Loved this post!
Misplaced apostrophes, particularly to indicate plurality, are a pet peeve of mine. (Because, of course, that’s a grammar rule I understand — I will admit to problems with that that/who thing, though.) Have you read Eats, Shoots & Leaves?
Good job articulating this common goof, grammar guru. I discovered people feel strongly about such things when I wrote my post “Your” versus “You’re.” How hard can it be to use these words correctly??
This is an absolutely wonderful blog (column). This is the first time I have visited your blog spot. You are totally “on point”, and as I consider you a must read, I’m adding you to my favorites. Most excellent, purposeful blog!
Thanks for posting this — I’ll have to save it for reference, apostrophes are a particular nuisance for me.
Ditto to everything Joe said and I should have known that a blog like yours would be on here. I’m sure it is strange that I would bookmark you since I write like I do most of my blogs but I do that on purpose — I like to write like I think and talk; I do it on purpose and usually do know I’m breaking all the rules! I do, however, appreciate proper grammer and punctuation so it’s nice to have a source to check for answers when I need them. Thank you for being here!
Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and support. I appreciate your reading my blog!