Many of us who know these rules well still misuse them in legal documents. In contrast, the contraction "it’s" is a substitute for the two words "it is." For example: It’s important to understand the alternate meanings of the statute. Or for a more legal example: The court announced its ruling. One of the most common mistakes in the possessive form concerns the little word "its." The possessive form of the pronoun "it" is "its." For example: The dog hid its bone behind the barn. Instead of stressing over "the Davises’ anniversary," just write "the anniversary of Mr. (plural possessive)Ĭonfused? When you’ve asked your secretary and two colleagues and read through a style manual and still do not know what to do with a challenging noun, consider rewriting the sentence to use "of" to show possession. The Williamses’ house will be vacant for that period. The Williamses are going on vacation for two weeks. Williams has been in practice for 10 years. The form Jones’s (with an apostrophe) refers to something that one of the Jones family members owns. Everyone is trying to keep up with the Joneses (add –es to form the plural). Remember the basic rule: don’t try to make a plural with an apostrophe. The interview room was filled with Ph.D.’s looking for jobs.ĭevilish details show up with our clients whose names end in –s, especially the Adams family and the Jones clan. The many x’s and y’s of algebra confused him.
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The rare situations where apostrophes are used to create plurals include words made of lowercase letters (x’s and y’s) and interior periods (Ph.D.’s). (No apostrophe needed in 1980s.)ĭistributions from the IRAs will begin in three years. Or maybe the orange has a one-dollar bill?ĭon’t be tempted to use apostrophes to create plurals, even with less common nouns: A grammar curmudgeon like me wonders what that singular orange possesses that’s worth a dollar. The rest of the world may assume that oranges are for sale and that each one costs a dollar. To be safe, avoid using an apostrophe to make a word plural. For irregular plurals that do not end in –s, we add –’s, e.g. The broom preferred by many witches is the witches’ favorite broom. The plural noun generally ends in –s already, so we add just an apostrophe. In formal documents, please use "Kansas’s primary" and "Congress’s recess." While the papers announce "Kansas’ primary" and "Congress’ recess" (a pattern, incidentally, adhered to by the Bulletin), the rule followed by curmudgeons like me is still to add an –’s to those singular forms, not just an apostrophe. Note that journalists get away with cutting corners. Similarly, if a witch has a favorite broom, we would call it the witch’s favorite broom. Thus, in the example above, the possessive of lawyer is lawyer’s. A singular noun becomes possessive with the addition of –’s. The possessive form is easy to form in the simplest cases. We call that fortunate state of affairs "possession." The lawyer may have a new car. Nouns are lucky because they get to have stuff.
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The plural of "child" is "children." A single "crisis" can become a series of "crises." A dictionary will generally list plurals for nouns that do not follow the basic forms. In addition to the many words that follow these simple rules, English is filled with words that have irregular plurals. So words that end in s, sh, x, z or ch typically take –es. If the noun ends in a sound that doesn’t readily combine with an s sound, English forms the plural by adding –es. As another example, the plural of statute is statutes. The office is singular, and the offices are plural.Īs shown in the two examples above, English typically forms the plural by adding –s. Folks of my generation remember from "Grammar Rock" that a noun is "a person, place or thing." When a noun refers to one person, place or thing, we call it "singular." When a noun refers to more than one person, place or thing, we call it "plural." So lawyer is singular, and lawyers are plural. This column is essentially about nouns in their various forms, some of which need apostrophes and some of which don’t. If you’re an English whiz, skip the next section and pick up with the hard stuff. Truss mark up your documents for faulty plurals and possessives, just review this short column. Truss and I were surely the only movie-goers who boycotted on grammatical grounds. The title should have been "Two Weeks’ Notice," though Ms. Truss knew that the two weeks hadn’t noticed anything, so the plural "weeks" was incorrect. A few years ago, a British writer named Lynne Truss became famous for a little book subtitled "The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation." On the back flap, she’s seen surreptitiously adding an apostrophe to a movie billboard for "Two Weeks Notice." Ms.