WHEN TO USE APOSTROPHIES

By Brian Kerrigan

THE PROBLEM:  Knowing whether to put the apostrophe before or after the 's whether it is a noun or a pronoun. You got to know that you do not use contractions in informal writing.

INCORRECTED APOSTROPHES:

INCORRECT: I dont' have to live up to certain standards and try to accomplish goals that are unattainable. (http://www.freeessay.com/papers/Creative_Writing/31_1_1.shtml)

INCORRECT: Whether the devil appears literally, as in Ivan Karamazovs case, or in      the likeness of the character's victim, as in the cases of Raskolnikov and Stavrogin, the mere fact of the devil's emergence reveals that the character has failed to elude guilt, a human universal, despite what he thinks or says consciously.

(Source: http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/courses/previous/ru351/studentpapers/dostpapers.shtml)

THE OFFICIAL RULE: “Missing or misused apostrophes. The can catch a missing apostrophes in common contractions, such as don’t. They can also flag some problems with possessives, although they miss others. The program usually phrases their advice cautiously, telling you that you have a “possible possessive error in a phrase such as a days work or sled dog feet. Therefore, you – not the grammar checker- must decide whether to add an apostrophe and, if so, whether to pit it before or after the –s.”

(Source: Hacker, Diane. The Bedford handbook. 5^th Edition. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998.

MY TRANSLATION: Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been reused the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show possession by one person. To show possession by more than one person, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe.  

CORRECTIONS:

INCORRECT: I dont' have to live up to certain standards and try to accomplish goals that are unattainable. (http://www.freeessay.com/papers/Creative_Writing/31_1_1.shtml)

 CORRECTION: I don't have to live up to certain standards and try to accomplish goals hat are unattainable.

INCORRECT: Whether the devil appears literally, as in Ivan Karamazovs case, or inthe likeness of the character's victim, as in the cases of Raskolnikov and Stavrogin, the mere fact of the devil's emergence reveals that the character has failed to elude guilt, a human universal, despite what he thinks or says consciously.

CORRECTION: Whether the devil appears literally, as in Ivan Karamazov's (Karamazovs') case, or in the likeness of the character's victim, as in the cases of Raskolnikov and Stavrogin, the mere fact of the devil's emergence reveals that the character has failed to elude guilt, a human universal, despite what he thinks or says consciously.

(Source: http://community.middlebury.edu/~beyer/courses/previous/ru351/studentpapers/dostpapers.shtml)

SOME RULES TO HELP YOU WITH APOSTROPHIES:

Rule 1: Use control F (in Microsoft word) to search for all apostrophies.

Rule 2: Do not use contractions in formal writing.

Rule 3: Use the writing center provided by Cabrini College.

Rule 4: Use a blank piece a paper to make sure the sentence makes sense.

Rule 5: Work from a paper printed our, not from the computer screan.

Rule 6: Make sure there is some type of possession.

Rule 7: Use pages 463-467 in The Beddford Handbook.

Rule 8: Always ask a friend to go through your paper after you are done.