Category: Class

An apostrophe is not only a punctuation mark but also a part of a word to demonstrate:

a. possession

b. contraction or omission

c. formation of certain plurals of lowercase letters

Apostrophe Rules for Possessive Forms

To determine if you need to make a possessive, reconstruct the phrase and turn it into a “of the…” phrase. 

Examples:

It is unnecessary to use an apostrophe if the noun after “of” is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture.

Examples:

Rules on adding an apostrophe to form possessives:

a. add ‘s to words in singular form even if they end in -s.

Examples:

For plural proper nouns that are possessives, use only an apostrophe after the ‘s’. ” 

Example:

b. add ‘s to nouns in plural forms that do not end in -s:

Example:

c. add only ‘ to the end of nouns in plural forms that end in -s:

Example:

d. add ‘s to the end of compound words:

Example:

e. add ‘s to the final noun to show joint ownership of an object:

Examples:

Showing Omission of Letters

The omission of one or more letters (or numbers) in a word is called a contraction.  An apostrophe is used in order to create this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. 

To create a contraction, you must place the apostrophe in the position of the omitted letters.

Examples:

Forming Plurals of Lowercase Letters

Use an apostrophe and an –s to form the plural of all lowercase letters to make it appear typographically correct.

“five rs” vs. “five r’s“

Example:

Apostrophes are not necessary in forming the plural of capitalized numbers and symbols. Capital letters do not usually require an apostrophe in the plural. To avoid confusion in some cases, use an apostrophe before the –s of the plural capitalized letter.

Examples:

Without the apostrophe the plural form of the capitalized letter would form a different word.

Apostrophe should not be used for personal pronouns, the relative pronoun who, or for noun plurals.

Possessive pronouns, as the word suggests, already indicates possession therefore the use of apostrophe would make it redundant. 

Examples of possessive pronouns are; his, her, its, my, yours, ours.

Indefinite pronouns, on the other hand, can be made possessive. Examples of indefinite pronouns are; one, anyone, other, no one, and anybody.

Examples:

Remember: Its and it’s are different. It’s is the contracted form of “it is” and ‘its’ is a possessive pronoun which means “belonging to it”.”

Bear in mind that just as you do not use an apostrophe for the possessive his or hers, the same applies to the possessive pronoun its.

Examples:

Proofreading for Apostrophes

Once you have finished writing your paper, it is recommended to proofread for apostrophes. Here are some useful strategies:

If you decide to leave out apostrophes, go through every word that ends in -s or -es to check if they need an apostrophe.

If you notice you used too many apostrophes, check each one of them to see if their usage is justified according to any rule for using apostrophes.

There are different ways to write compound words. They can be written or spelled as two separate words (open compound), joined words forming a single word, or two words joined together by a hyphen (hyphenated compounds).

There are irregularities in compounding that even authorities are not always in agreement in all cases of compounding words. The following examples of the use of hyphen, however, are generally accepted.

1. Use a hyphen if the two or more words are functioning together as a single adjective before the noun. 

Examples:

load-bearing concrete

sugar-coated doughnuts

a well-written article

Omit the hyphen if the noun comes before the  compound modifiers.

The doughnuts were sugar coated.

The article was well written.

2. Use a hyphen with compound numbers. When spelled out, numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine must be hyphenated.

Examples:

fifty-eight

seventy-three

The well-respected businessman turned sixty-nine this month.

3. Use a hyphen to steer clear of any confusion or an awkward looking string of letters.

Examples:

The message was re-sent. (I resent doing that chores.)

The servants re-lay the carpet. ( The assistant will relay your message to the CEO.)

I am not a fan of the anti-intellectual culture in sports. (instead of antiintelectual)

4.Use hyphen with some prefixes such as ex- meaning former, self-, all-; with -elect as a suffix; to connect a prefix with a capitalized noun; and with figures or letters.

Examples:

ex-convict 

self-control

mid-August

all-consuming

president-elect

ex-Soviet leader

U-turn

mid-1940s

5. Use hyphen in line breaks.

a. When there is not enough space, use hyphen at the end of a line if necessary. This is to indicate that a long word has been broken off. Divide the word between syllables.

Note: Do not divide one-syllable words.

Correct:

Incorrect:

b. Always divide a hyphenated compound word only at the hyphen.

Correct:

      The preparation for the inauguration of the president-

elect started in the wee hours of the morning.

Incorrect: 

      The preparation for the inauguration of the pres-

ident-elect started in the wee hours of the morning.

c. To break words ending in -ing, if a single final consonant in the root word is doubled before the suffix, use hyphen to separate the consonants; if not, hyphenate at the suffix itself.

drop-ping 

hop-ping

learn-ing

spill-ing

d. Do not separate a word between syllables if only one letter remains or if only two-letter suffixed begin a line.

simply (Do not break this word in a way which leaves ly at the beginning of a new line.)

in-sin-u-ate ( Divide only on either side of the u; do not leave the first letter i- at the end of a line.)

Should have

Use:

1. Should have can be used to show something that you regret doing or not doing. It means that something did not happen but you wished it had happened.

Examples:

I should have left home early.

(I left home late and missed the bus. Now I wish that the past was different.)

He should have practiced more for the game.

(He did not practice enough and lost the game.)

2.  Another use of should have is to talk about something you expected to happen but didn’t happen or only happened later on.

Examples:

The package should have arrived today, but I haven’t heard from the courier yet.

( I was expecting a package, but it is not here.)

I am having a late lunch. It should have been prepared hours ago.

(The food was prepared late. It has just been served.)

The negative form of “should have” is “should not have“.

Form:

Might Have

Use:

1. Might have shows an opinion about a past situation. We believe that the action possibly happened, but we don’t know for sure.

Examples:

He might have left the office.

(It is possible that he has left the office, but it is also possible he has stayed at the office.)    

She might have told him the truth.

(It is possible that she has told him the truth, but it is also possible that she has told him something else.) 

The negative form of “might have” is “might not have“. The contracted form is “mightn’t have“.

Form:

In the positive form, we can use “by now“.

They might have completed it by now.

She might have showered by now.

He might have arrived by now.

In the negative form, can use “yet”.

They might not have completed it yet.

She might not have showered yet.

He might not have arrived yet.