English Grammar & Punctuation : How to Use Apostrophes

[pianosa1993]

you're not supposed to use an apostrophe when talking about the 1990s!!! That is like the most misused one ever!!!!! ugh

[portugalsuperstar]

5 is right

[SPAYPET]

@Jabelles1 -I agree that they are not needed in these, but as a teacher I would not take off points for this error because it's accepted in many writings. I would not accept it, however, in other ways. For example, I would accept " I grew up In the 1990's," but not "I have two sister's."

[SPAYPET]

Please stop using apostrophes to pluralize things! It's "I got stung by bees." NOT "I got stung by bee's!"

[selin2213]

Capitalize the pronoun "I"... for heaven's sake, you're not texting; you're teaching grammar! And I agree with other comments that point out that the date and letter in #5 can be correct without apostrophes (there is some disagreement among experts about this, however).

[sharapova4eva]

"You know one of the most confusing things in grammar is the apostrophe!" SO VERY TRUE! I always get confused with them. Point 2 was helpful, I didn't know that, I thought whenever something ended with an s you just put an apostrophe on the end.

[Myra1991JR]

@sharapova4eva NO! Number 2 and 5 are clearly wrong! Stick to what you know sis. ;-)) There is no such thing as bus's! It's supposed to be bus'! You hit the nail on that one. Gosh, if people want to post educational items can't they at least make sure they're correct? Forget all you just heard about Point 2! As for the dates and letters, the apostrophe isn't supposed to be there as well as it'd turn the 1990s into an active thus requiring the need to indicate ownership! ;-)) Ask me instead!

[sharapova4eva]

@Myra1991JR Lol I think maybe the woman is right though cos I just read on some random website...

a) To show singular possession for a word ending in an s or s sound, use the apostrophe and another s e.g. the class’s opinion (one class)

b) To show plural possession of a word ending in an s or s sound, form the plural first; then immediately use the apostrophe e.g. the classes’ opinions.

Gosh I'm so confused lol. :(

[Myra1991JR]

@sharapova4eva Yeah, they're still wrong. It should be the class' opinion. The word ''class'' already ends with an 's' which is why another 's' isn't required! All you need is an apostrophe to indicate possession ''the class' opninion! Picture is if you add an extra 's' it would have to indicate one or more missing letters ''the class is opninion - WRONG, the class has opinion - WRONG! The apostrophe is what you'd call superfluous in this case! The second one is correct though! ;-))

[Myra1991JR]

@sharapova4eva What is all comes down is a lack of thorough research and a lack of logic! Learn not to trust things written on the Internet and go with common sense instead. If you wanna avoid causing confusion you might also wonder why does ''invisibility'' have so many ''i''s? That wouldn't be right so many i's as the 'i' doesn't have any possessions and is thus to either be put in quotaton marks (to keep peeps confusing it with ''Is'') It's all about the context! There's another new comment!

[sharapova4eva]

@Myra1991JR OK thank you for sending me into a state of confusion lol. But seriously I think both ways are right. I read on quite a few websites that both can be used, so you could say James's dog or James' dog. Oh and why wouldn't a) be the classes opinion instead of the class's opinion or the class' opinion? Ugh I'm tempted to give up on stupid apostrophes!

[Myra1991JR]

@sharapova4eva Alright then. ;-)) I am giving you up! LOL, just kidding, looks like I am gonna have to resort to that ''appalling'' word eventually. ;-) Just do me a favor and stick to the one you used to think was correct. ;-) If you just say the classes opinion there wouldn't be any coherent meaning behind those words as it'd just be two stand-alone words! The classes' opinion is plural and the class' opinion is singular. ;-)) How close are you to tossing your computer out the window? LOL!

[sharapova4eva]

@Myra1991JR OK I'll do what you say since you're the apostrophe expert lol. And thanks I get the classes thing now. :) Yeah I do want to toss my computer out the window, if not that then my brain lol.

[Myra1991JR]

@sharapova4eva You hit the nail on the head with that one. If there is anything I got down cold it the use of apostrophes. ;-)) You're welcome about the classes! ;-) Actually I don't approve of you tossing out either ''item'' out the window as both your brain and your computer are imperative necessities to keep our sisterhood alive. ;-))

[cymruisrael]

Number 2 is wrong and number 5 is wrong.

[pucksdad]

@cymruisrael Unless you think that there is a word spelled "bu" that is pluralized to "bus", then number 2 is correct. However, you're right about number 5. Well, partly. I'm OK right with "A's" since the letters constitute a completely different word without the apostrophe, thus potentially causing confusion. Such examples, however, are the exception to the rule. And this lady's "1990's" is not one of those exceptions. Would she have us abbreviate this to '90's, with duel apostrophes?

[foxy5764]

I agree with other posters that the use of the apostrophes in item 5 is incorrect.

I also notice that in items 3 and 5 the ellipses are incorrect: this punctuation mark should properly comprise 3 dots, not 4.

Please don't post 'educational' items that are actually wrong.

[Flawhound]

Dr. Rebecca Elliott, in her book "Painless Grammar" (published by Barron's), plainly and correctly teaches that 1980's is incorrect. I remember being quite elated when I saw that comment in her text while teaching grammar one day. I had taught this for many years, but this was the first time that I had seen it confirmed in a textbook. 1990s would be correct, not 1990's.

[halalola1]

High Quality Video + easy style + subtitle + easy vocabulary = great teacher...thank you very very much.

[trebla02]

How if name with ending in S ex. Tess's , Bless's James's , Charles's,Mars'sThis is one tone. but if there is two sounds or tone ex. Venus' - VE NUS+', Marites' -Ma ri tes +', IF their is one tone with ending s it will be Tess's - tess+ 's but if is 2 tone it will be Venus' = Venus+' JUST ASKING THANKS...

[LOTRzagorath]

Of course, the top one could also mean Tom is secret :P

Aside from that little joke, there are some clear mistakes here: in number two you would put "the bus' schedule", because it already ends in an S.

Even worse than that, number five is just completely wrong. It should be 1990s and As. You use the apostrophe to show ownership, or to abbreviate to show just the decade, '60s, etc. KevJJ888 below me has a really good example.

I am forever amazed by how so called "experts" are so bad on YouTube.

[PatxiALR]

Thank you Paige for the time you've given us explaining the use of apostrophes. I'm trying to find out where I learnt the use of single apostrophe (I mean without s) but I haven't found it. Would you mind to give me some help or advices? Thanks in advance.

[KevJJ888]

nobodyknowsmenow is correct. An apostrophe in a contraction shows something omitted. The same is true with a decade. You're omitting the century, ergo '60s, '70, etc..

A plural of a decade just adds the "s" as in 1960s, 1970s. Otherwise there could be confusion referring to the year "1990's music was the worst of the decade. 1991's music was better." The decade is written "The 1990s had some great music."

Then there's plural possessive: 1990s' fashion. Another discussion.

~KD, MS teacher

[hrford]

@KevJJ888 too right :)

[nobodyknowsmenow]

Very few editors would allow 1990's to pass. It isn't ninety's. It's nineties. The years from '90 to '99 are the 1990s or the '90s.

Don't believe me? Google it. Alternatively, think about it. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever for the apostrophe to be in "1990's", unless you are describing something that belongs to the year 1990 or somebody or something whose name is 1990.

[StyXauraelixir]

By the way, VideoSneaker, I'm twenty two years old.

[StyXauraelixir]

My grammar has been the bane of my writing career. Books and written explanations just confuse me, but this set of videos is helping to correct it.

[fearzone2000]

Can I say:

"Jones' s visiting Canada"

Is that right. I know that is not possessive.. .is the contraction of the verb TO BE.

[nobodyknowsmenow]

No. That's not a contraction. It's omission.

[VideoSneaker]

I'm not sure who your target audience is. It's a subject for third grade, but the speed and terminology (e.g., collective noun) are a little too advanced to hold their attention.

[makinawdandy6699]

Page thanks for the video. It is very good. I have only one other question. What about if we were the owners of a a fleet of busses, each with its own schedule, and we were talking about the schedules in plurality. In that case should we say "the busses' schedules...." , or should we say the bus's schedules...".

[Jabelles1]

@makinawdandy6699 you would say buses' schedules