3.14: Apostrophe Errors

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Apostrophes give many writers a lot of trouble. Sometimes, you might be tempted to put an apostrophe where it does not belong, such as when you are simply making a word plural. Other times, you need to make a word possessive, but you might forget to use the apostrophe.

Then, of course, there is that whole its / it’s thing that confuses most everyone.

Remember, the rule is to use an apostrophe when you need to show possession or ownership. The exception is with its.

Its shows ownership because it’s means it is. So, it’s like it’s is already taken, so its gets to be an ownership exception. To make sure you are using It’s correctly, just say it is when you read it. If it makes sense, you’re fine. However, if you’re trying to show ownership, and it is would not work in the sentence, you need to make the change to its.

For more information on the apostrophe, be sure to check out the Apostrophe section in the Punctuation area of Grammar Essentials (or if you just need to brush up your skills, visit the Apostrophe Refresher). Otherwise, you might end up with a sentence like this:

Screenshot 2020-05-06 at 20.26.33.png

And, you would want a sentence like this:

Screenshot 2020-05-06 at 20.26.48.png