Apostrophe Catastrophe

We all want to look professional and since we have no control over who views our website, we need to ensure that professionalism extends to our content by eradicating typos, punctuation and grammar errors wherever possible. Now I'm not setting myself up as the "grammar guru" nor do I intend any disrespect to the WA community, but we all have to face this simple fact: like or or not, once we post content on the web, we become writers. And once we become writers, we are obligated to appear professional because writing is then our job.

Would You Buy a Razor from This Man?

We are perceived by the content of our website and the fact that we've "never been good at spelling" and so on, holds no water for the folks who read our blogs or whatever. It's simple attention to detail. For example, I would never buy anything from a salesperson whose shoes were scruffy or whose suit was rumpled or still had part of his lunch in his beard. None of this exudes professionalism.

Let's Start with the Apostrophe

There are only two uses for the apostrophe: as a possessive and as a contraction. The apostrophe is never used to pluralize a word (no matter what you see on TV, billboards and garage sales).

Plurals. Plurals are formed simply by adding "s" or "ses" (in the case of words already ending in "s") to the end of the word, as in boy and boys and mistress and mistresses. Boy's in not a plural nor is mistress's. Both of these are possessives. The plural of PC is PCs. The plural of 1840 is the 1840s.

Possessives. As the word implies, a possessive is anything that belongs to or is possessed by something or someone. If the boy has a pen, it is the boy's pen. If the mistress has a computer, it is the mistress' computer or as is popular now, the mistress's computer. Your choice.

Contractions: I can't swear to this, but I believe English is the only European language --i f not the only language -- that uses contractions. I believe it's also the only language that uses the apostrophe in possessives.

A contraction is a shortening of two words by the insertion of an apostrophe. For example, do not becomes don't. Will not becomes won't. Could not becomes couldn't and so on. Contrary to the way pe0ple spell when texting, you must adhere to grammatical conventions when writing content on your website. If you write "wont" instead of "won't," you are not saying you will not do something, but that you are in the habit of or accustomed to doing something, which is what "wont" means.

One More Thing and Then We're Done for This Blog

In the U.S.A., it is customary to place punctuation inside quote marks -- "Elvis has left the building." as opposed to "Elvis has left the building".

For more on where to put your punctuation in quote marks and grammatical questions in general, see The Grammar Book. Just like you check your facts, it is always a good idea to check your content for typos, grammar and so on before you put it out there.

Next Time

Words that sound the same but have totally different meanings.