Friday, August 2, 2013

The Misunderstood Apostrophe

Dear Readers,

It is now time to discuss the apostropheThe Random House Dictionary of the English Language defines apostrophe as:  "the sign (') used to indicate the omission of one or more letters in a word
[in other words, a contraction], as in o'er for over; to indicate the possessive case, as in man's; to indicate plurals of abbreviations and symbols, as in several M.D.'s or in 3's."

Let's break this down to two of the three definitions above.  In Reference Manual for Stenographers and Typists under ABBREVIATIONS AND CONTRACTIONS, it says, "a contraction is a shortened form of a word or a phrase; however an apostrophe is inserted at the exact point where letters are omitted.  (Examples:  Nat'l for national; doesn't for does not.)"  I think most of us English speakers know how to spell words like can't or I'm or she's, but there is much confusion when letters in the word "and" are omitted.  For example, this was spotted on a store sign on Woodman Avenue: 
                            Details N' Design.
If I assume that the middle word is AND, then there should be an apostrophe in front of the N as well as after it to indicate the omission of both A and D. 
The correct spelling would be:  Details 'N' Design.

Example:  There is a restaurant on Hollywood Blvd.  The name is Pig 'N Whistle.
Again, there should be another apostrophe after the N to show the missing D.

Example:  I saw an advertisement on T.V. for Nice 'N Easy hair care products.
By now you know what is wrong here, don't you?

Here are two examples of the apostrophe used correctly in this context:
The old time television show was titled "Amos 'n' Andy".
In Sophie Kinsella's novel I've Got Your Number, heroine Poppy Wyatt describes her prospective in-laws by saying, "I can picture them now, eating honey-roasted peanuts and reading academic papers on his 'n' hers Kindles." 

In the second definition above, an apostrophe is used to indicate possession.  The Elements of Style by Strunk and White says, "Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's."  I will give the examples of The boy's dog is missing.  The boy owns the dog.  The house's gate is open.  The house owns the gate.  John's children are well behaved.  The children belong to John.  Strunk and White remind us to "follow this rule whatever the final consonant.  Thus write, Charles's friend; Burns's poem; the witch's malice."  They also explain, "The pronominal [meaning a pronoun instead of a noun] possessives hers, its, theirs, yours and ours have no apostrophe.  A common error is to write it's for its, or vice versa.  The first is a contraction meaning it is.  The second is a possessive."
                       It's a wise dog that scratches its own fleas.
Reference Manual For Stenographers and Typists further tells us, "To form the possessive of a regular plural noun, add only an apostrophe."  [meaning there is no extra S after it.]
   students' marks           attorneys' offices       ladies' day


Here are some examples where an apostrophe should be used to show possession but it is missing.
Why?  I can't say.

Example:   I passed a truck on the freeway that sported this sign:  "The Chefs Warehouse".
Obviously it is the Chef who uses the Warehouse, so it should read:  "The Chef's Warehouse", right?

Example:  Signs at the bathrooms at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank read:  MENS     WOMENS
Again, to show that the restrooms belong to the men and to the women, we need an apostrophe
between the N and the S:  MEN'S      WOMEN'S

Example:  Passing by the corner of Victory Blvd. and Tampa Ave., I spotted these signs:
  Loehmann's Plaza (which is spelled correctly with an apostrophe) but the sign above the store reads:
  Loehmanns.   What gives?  Why not put it apostrophe here as well?  Does it cost that much more to add that punctuation mark?  Well, it is a discount store after all.

Example:  Further down the road on Vanowen St., this sign says:  TAMS PET FOOD & SUPPLIES
Once again, they are lacking the apostrophe to show that it is owned by TAM.

Here are a few examples of the proper addition of the apostrophe.

Example:  On Ventura Blvd. at Topeka Ave., I saw these two signs:
   Peet's Coffee & Tea                Norman's Rare Guitars
Yes!  Someone checked the spelling before having the signs made.

Example:  In Sophie Kinsella's book I've Got Your Number, heroine Poppy Wyatt explains how to get to where her future in-laws live.  "There are twelve tube stops from Knightsbridge to Magnus's parents' house..."  In this case, the author is correct to put the 's  after her fiancĂ©'s name and she is equally correct in omitting the last s after the word "parents" but putting in the apostrophe to show possession.  Got it?

Example:  Jennifer Weiner writes in her book The Guy Not Taken, "I landed a job writing for an hour-long drama called The Girls' Room, which was about four best friends at a boarding school."

Now I  will give examples of where an apostrophe is added when it should not (or shouldn't) be there.

Example:  Seen on a service station sign at the corner of Balboa Blvd. and Saticoy St.:
                                  We Service Honda's
There is no possession nor contraction here, so why the apostrophe?

Example:  A sign on Ventura Blvd. for Shape It gym:   Train with the Pro's
Again, there is no possession nor contraction. 

Example:  Here is a tweet by LeAnn Rimes in a Star Magazine article about Mindy McCready's untimely death:
"My heart goes out to Mindy McCready's family.  I knew her well.  It's a horribly tragedy.
May peace be with her son's." 
We will ignore the horrible misspelling of the word "horrible" above but focus on the misspelling of "sons".  This is simply a plural word (apparently Mindy had more than one son) so it does not require an apostrophe here.

Example:  Someone wrote this in an email to me:  "Lucia drug out photo's of us taken at that dinner..."  Again, this is a plural of photo and does not need an apostrophe.

Lastly, how many of you confuse "your" with "you're" ???
YOUR is a possessive showing that you own something.  How are your children?
YOU'RE is a contraction of YOU + ARE.   You're going to have to tell me about the kids.
If you are (or you're) unsure which to use, ask yourself if you can say, "You are" in your sentence.  If the answer if yes, then use an apostrophe to show the contraction.  If you mean to say to possess or own, then use "your".

Well, my job's done for this month.  You're on your own.