apostrophe please

pathway33

Can anyone explain to me please in plain english without these rules about 'posessive' where to put an apostrophe?

the train is late = the train's late

the umbrella is wet = the umbrella's wet

umbrella is the name of my new dog. Umbrellas' bone is in the wardrobe.

Thanks

IrishKnight

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe

More or less it. And remember, if you are not sure, leave it out...

Also, you can't leave out the possessive rules as they play a major part in when to use an apostrophe or not...

Gladly; apostrophe abuse drives me to tears.

You use an apostrophe to:

Show when you're leaving out a letter(s) in abbreviations: eg. do not = don't, cannot = can't

Show possession: eg Jane's dog, the dog's bone.

When the word is plural, you put the apostrophe after the s. eg the dogs' toys, the boys' school.

If the word is plural but doesn't end in an s, you put an apostrophe-s. eg the women's bags, the children's room.

If the word ends in an s, you can either add an 's or add the apostrophe after the s eg. 'James's book' and 'James' book' are both fine.

YOU NEVER EVER USE AN APOSTROPHE WHEN YOU'RE SHOWING POSSESSION WITH ITS. 'The dog lost its bone', not 'The dog lost it's bone', because that would mean 'The dog lost it is bone'.

Similarly, don't write 'its' when you mean to say 'it is' 'it is= it's'

Never use an apostrophe to pluralise a word, ie 'The dog's ran outside' should be 'The dogs ran outside'.

If you'd like a somewhat comical (but correct) explanation of apostrophe, follow this link http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe

IrishKnight

IrishKnight wrote: »

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe

More or less it. And remember, if you are not sure, leave it out...

Haha we posted the same link! Love that comic!

spurious

pathway33 wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me please in plain english without these rules about 'posessive' where to put an apostrophe?

the train is late = the train's late

the umbrella is wet = the umbrella's wet

umbrella is the name of my new dog. Umbrellas' bone is in the wardrobe.

Thanks

That last one is wrong - Umbrella is the dog's name (ending in 'a'), so it would just be Umbrella's bone is in the wardrobe.
If the dog's name was Umbrellas it would be Umbrellas' bone is in the wardrobe, though Umbrellas's bone is also acceptable.

Fot the others, missing letter gets an apostrophe as does possession, EXCEPT for its.

It's raining and the dog is wet as it can't get into its house.

The possessive of it is its.

**Timbuk2**

If somebodys name ends with 's', the correct thing to do is to add apostrophe-s at the end.

E.g. This is James's house (rather than James' house).

**Timbuk2**

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

If somebodys name ends with 's', the correct thing to do is to add apostrophe-s at the end.

E.g. This is James's house (rather than James' house).

It's an element of style really, both are acceptable.