The Seven Deadly Sins of Writing - Abusing Apostrophes

Apostrophes - how do I use them?

Welcome to this discussion on The Seven Deadly Sins of Writing. There are quite a few more deadly sins than the ones I'll be discussing over the course of the next few months, but these errors tend to be the most common. First up is apostrophes. An apostrophe is used in contractions (combining words) and to demonstrate possession of something. There are several ways in which the apostrophe is used.

Let’s look at a few examples of showing possession first:
Girls – plural noun- referencing more than one girl but no possessions.
          The girls enjoyed a day at the park.
Girl’s – singular – referencing one girl with her possession: the ball.
          The girl’s ball fell into the water.
Girls’ – plural – references two or more girls with two or more possessions: kites.
          The girls’ kites flew high in the sky.
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The second way an apostrophe is used is to combine two words into one (contractions). Here are some examples:
They'll - contraction of 'they' and 'will.'
          They'll want something to eat soon.
He's - contraction of 'he' and 'is.'
          He’s going to the mall shortly.
What'd - contraction of 'what' and 'did.'
          What’d you say?

There’s one contraction that people often argue isn’t one, but it really is: ain't. It can often be used in dialogue, if writing fiction. Let's look at a couple of examples:
Ain’t  - contraction of 'are' and 'not.'
          “You ain’t about to tell me how to live my life!”
Ain’t  - contraction of 'am' and 'not.'
          “I don’t care what you say, I ain’t going with you!”

One contraction that confuses many people on whether it needs an apostrophe or not is  “its” versus “it’s.”
Its - showing possession - referencing the lion's teeth.
          The lion roared loudly, showing off its pearly white teeth for all to see.
It's - contraction of 'it' and 'is.'
          It’s never easy to fire someone from their job.
The way I figure out which 'its' to use is by reading it in my head after I write it, breaking the contraction apart and testing it to see if the sentence still makes sense. We'll use the same examples from above:
Its - this sentence doesn't make sense now:
          The lion roared loudly, showing off it is pearly white teeth for all to see.
It's - this sentence still makes sense:
          It is never easy to fire someone from their job.
See the difference?

Now that you know how to use apostrophes, maybe you'll be able to catch a few of the mistakes yourself, potentially creating a cleaner manuscript for your editor and a lower editing cost for you! We’ll continue our discussion of The Seven Deadly Sins of Writing next month with confusing commas. Until then, if you can think of further examples of abusing apostrophes or another deadly sin you’d like us to cover – let us know in the comments.

Write without fear. Edit without mercy.

- Barbara, Copyeditor/Proofreader

~Art shared from DeviantArt by Marta Dahlig; The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust