Apostrophe

’ ' The apostrophe ( ’  or  ' ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets. In English it has two main functions: it marks omissions, and it assists in marking the possessives of all nouns and many pronouns. (In strictly limited cases, it is allowed to assist in marking plurals, but most authorities now disapprove of such usage; see below.) According to the OED, the word comes ultimately from Greek ἡ ἀπόστροφος [προσῳδία] (hē apóstrophos [prosōidía], "[the accent of] 'turning away', or elision"), through Latin and French.[1]

The apostrophe is different from the closing single quotation mark (usually rendered identically but serving a quite different purpose), and from the similar-looking prime (which is used to indicate measurement in feet or arcminutes, and for various mathematical purposes).

Contents

English language usage

Possessive apostrophe

See also: Saxon genitive

An apostrophe is used to indicate possession.

General principles for the possessive apostrophe

To illustrate that possessive apostrophes matter, and that their usage affects the meaning of written English, consider these four phrases (listed in Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct), each of which has a meaning distinct from the others:

Kingsley Amis, on being challenged to produce a sentence whose meaning depended on a possessive apostrophe, came up with:

Singular nouns ending with an "s" or "z" sound

This subsection deals with singular nouns pronounced with a sibilant sound at the end: /s/ or /z/. The spelling of these ends with -s, -se, -z, -ze, or -ce. Many respected sources have required that practically all singular nouns, including those ending with a sibilant sound, have possessive forms with an extra s after the apostrophe. Examples include the Modern Language Association, The Elements of Style, and The Economist.[7] Such sources would demand possessive singulars like these: Senator Jones's umbrella; Mephistopheles's cat. However, many modern writers omit the extra s. Some respected style guides such as the Chicago Manual of Style recommend the traditional practice but provide for some exceptions such as omitting the extra s after a polysyllabic word ending in a sibilant.[8] Rules that modify or extend this principle have included the following:

Similar examples of notable names ending in an s that are often given a possessive apostrophe with no additional s include Dickens and Williams. There is often a policy of leaving off the additional s on any such name, but this can prove problematic when specific names are contradictory (for example, St James' Park in Newcastle [the football ground] and the area of St. James's Park in London). For more details on practice with geographic names, see the relevant section below.

Some people like to reflect standard spoken practice in cases like these with sake: for convenience' sake, for goodness' sake, for appearance' sake, for compromise' sake, for peace' sake, etc. This punctuation is preferred in major style guides. Others prefer to add 's: for convenience's sake.[14] Still others prefer to omit the apostrophe when there is an s sound before sake: for morality's sake, but for convenience sake.[15]

Nouns ending with silent "s", "x", or "z"

The English possessive of French nouns ending in a silent s, x, or z is rendered differently by different authorities. Some prefer Descartes' and Dumas', while others insist on Descartes's and Dumas's. Certainly a sibilant is pronounced in these cases; the theoretical question is whether the existing final letter is sounded, or whether s needs to be added. Similar examples with x or z: Sauce Périgueux's main ingredient is truffle; His pince-nez's loss went unnoticed; in both of these some writers might omit the added s. The same principles and residual uncertainties apply with "naturalised" English words, like Illinois and Arkansas.[16]

For possessive plurals of words ending in silent x, z, or s, the few authorities that address the issue at all call for an added s, and require that the apostrophe precede the s: The Loucheux's homeland is in the Yukon; Compare the two Dumas's literary achievements. As usual in punctuation, the best advice is to respect soundly established practice, and beyond that to strive for simplicity, logic, and especially consistency.

Possessives in geographic names

United States place names generally do not use the possessive apostrophe. The United States Board on Geographic Names, which has responsibility for formal naming of municipalities and geographic features, has deprecated the use of possessive apostrophes since 1890. Only five names of natural features in the U.S. are officially spelled with a genitive apostrophe (one example being Martha's Vineyard[17]). On the other hand, Britain has Bishop's Stortford, Bishop's Castle and King's Lynn (but St Albans, St Andrews and St Helens) and, while Newcastle United play at St James' Park, and Exeter City at St James Park, London has a St James's Park (this whole area of London is named after St James's Church, Piccadilly[18]). The special circumstances of the latter case may be this: the customary pronunciation of this place name is reflected in the addition of an extra -s; since usage is firmly against a doubling of the final -s without an apostrophe, this place name has an apostrophe. This could be regarded as an example of a double genitive: it refers to the park of the church of St James. None of this detracts from the fact that omission of the apostrophe in geographical names is becoming a clear standard in most English-speaking countries, including Australia.[19] Practice in Britain and Canada is not so uniform.[20]

Possessives in names of organizations

Sometimes the apostrophe is omitted in the names of clubs, societies, and other organizations, even though the standard principles seem to require it: Country Women's Association, but International Aviation Womens Association; Magistrates' Court of Victoria,[21] but Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union. Usage is variable and inconsistent. Style guides typically advise consulting an official source for the standard form of the name; some tend towards greater prescriptiveness, for or against such an apostrophe.[22] As the case of womens shows, it is not possible to analyse these cases simply as non-possessive plurals, since women is the only correct plural form of woman.

Possessives in business names

See also: S-form

Where a business name is based on a family name, it may or may not take an apostrophe (compare Sainsbury's and Harrods), though in recent times there has been an increasing tendency to drop the apostrophe. Names based on a first name are more likely to take an apostrophe (Joe's Crab Shack). A small activist group called the Apostrophe Protection Society[23] has campaigned for large retailers such as Harrods, Currys and Selfridges to reinstate their missing punctuation. A spokesperson for Barclays PLC stated, "It has just disappeared over the years. Barclays is no longer associated with the family name."[24]

Origins of the possessive apostrophe

The use of the apostrophe to mark the English possessive ultimately derives from the Old English genitive case, indicating possession; this often ended in the letters -es, which evolved into a simple s for the possessive ending. An apostrophe was later added to mark the omitted e.[25]

Apostrophe showing omission

An apostrophe is commonly used to indicate omitted characters:

Use in forming certain plurals

An apostrophe is used by some writers to form a plural for abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols where adding just s rather than 's may leave things ambiguous or inelegant. Some specific cases:

Use in non-English names

Non-standard English use

Incorrect use of the apostrophe (according to the generally accepted rules) is endemic, and the perceived abuse of the punctuation mark generates heated debate. The British founder of The Apostrophe Protection Society earned a 2001 Ig Nobel prize for "efforts to protect, promote and defend the differences between plural and possessive".[32] A 2004 report by OCR, a British examination board, stated that "the inaccurate use of the apostrophe is so widespread as to be almost universal".[33] A 2008 survey found that nearly half of the UK adults polled were unable to use the apostrophe correctly.[34]

Misused apostrophes are often referred to as "greengrocers' apostrophes", "rogue apostrophes" or "idiot's apostrophes" (a literal translation of the German word Deppenapostroph which criticises the misapplication of apostrophes (Denglisch).

Greengrocers' apostrophes

Sign to Green Craigs housing development

Apostrophes used incorrectly to form plurals are known as greengrocers' apostrophes (or grocers' apostrophes, or sometimes humorously greengrocers apostrophe's). The practice comes from the identical sound of the plural and possessive forms of most English nouns. It is often considered a form of hypercorrection coming from a widespread ignorance of the proper use of the apostrophe or of punctuation in general. Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, points out that before the 19th century, it was standard orthography to use the apostrophe to form a plural of a foreign-sounding word that ended in a vowel (e.g., banana's, folio's, logo's, quarto's, pasta's, ouzo's) to clarify pronunciation. Truss says this usage is no longer considered proper in formal writing.[35]

Multiple apostrophe abuse

It is believed that the term was coined in the middle of the 20th century by a teacher of languages working in Liverpool, at a time when such mistakes were common in the handwritten signs and advertisements of greengrocers (e.g., Apple's 1/- a pound, Orange's 1/6d a pound). Some have argued that its use in mass communication by employees of well-known companies has led to the less grammatically able assuming it to be correct and adopting the habit themselves.[36]

The same error is sometimes made by non-native speakers of English and this hyperforeignism has been formalised in some pseudo-anglicisms. For example, the French word pin's (from English pin) is used (with the apostrophe in both singular and plural) for collectable lapel pins. Similarly, there is an Andorran football club called FC Rànger's (after such British clubs as Rangers F.C.) and a Japanese pop punk band called the Titan Go King's.[37]

The widespread use of apostrophes before the s of plural nouns has led some to believe that an apostrophe is also needed before the s of the third-person present tense of a verb. Thus, he take's, it begin's, etc...

While the greengrocers' apostrophe is more likely to be found in small retail businesses, the UK's largest supermarket chain, Tesco, has a habit of omitting the mark where it should be included. Its in-store signage advertises (among other items) mens magazines, girls toys, kids books and womens shoes. The author Bill Bryson lambastes Tesco for this reason in his book Troublesome Words, stating that "the mistake is inexcusable and those who make it are linguistic Neanderthals".[38]

Advocates of greater or lesser use

George Bernard Shaw, a proponent of English spelling reform on phonetic principles, argued that the apostrophe was mostly redundant. He did not use it for spelling cant or hes when writing Pygmalion. He did however allow I'm and it's.[39] Lewis Carroll made greater use of apostrophes, and frequently used sha'n't.[40] Neither author's use has become widespread.

Other misuses

The British pop group Hear'Say famously made unconventional use of an apostrophe in its name. Truss comments that "the naming of Hear'Say in 2001 was [...] a significant milestone on the road to punctuation anarchy".[41] Dexys Midnight Runners, on the other hand, omit the apostrophe.

An apostrophe wrongly thought to be misused in popular culture occurs in the name of Liverpudlian rock band The La's. This apostrophe is often thought to be a mistake; but in fact it marks omission of the letter d. The name comes from the Scouse slang for "The Lads".

Other languages

An apostrophe in Braille

As a mark of elision

In many languages, especially European languages, the apostrophe is used to indicate the elision of one or more sounds, as in English. For example:

To separate morphemes

Some languages use the apostrophe to separate the root of a word and its affixes, especially if the root is foreign and unassimilated.

As a mark of palatalization or non-palatalization

Some languages and transliteration systems use the apostrophe to mark the presence, or the lack of, palatalization.

As a glottal stop

See also: Okina and Saltillo (linguistics)

Other languages and transliteration systems use the apostrophe or some similar mark to indicate a glottal stop, sometimes considering it a letter of the alphabet:

The apostrophe represents sounds resembling the glottal stop in the Turkic languages and in romanizations of Arabic. Sometimes this function is performed by the opening single quotation mark.

Other uses

Typographic form

The form of the apostrophe originates in manuscript writing, as a point with a downwards tail curving clockwise. This form was inherited by the typographic (or typeset) apostrophe ( ’ ), also called the curly apostrophe. Later sans-serif typefaces had stylized apostrophes with a more geometric or simplified form, but usually retaining the same directional bias as a closing quotation mark.

With the invention of the typewriter, a "neutral" quotation mark form ( ' ) was created to economize on the keyboard, by using a single key to represent the apostrophe, both opening and closing single quotation marks, and single primes. This is known as the typewriter apostrophe or vertical apostrophe.

Computing

Although ubiquitous in typeset material, the typographic apostrophe ( ’ ) is rather difficult to enter on a computer since it does not have its own key on a standard keyboard. Outside the world of professional typesetting and graphic design, many people do not know how to enter this character and instead use the typewriter apostrophe ( ' ). However, because typewriter apostrophes are now often automatically converted to typographic apostrophes by wordprocessing and desktop-publishing software (see below), the typographic apostrophe does often appear in documents produced by non-professionals.

The typewriter apostrophe has always been considered tolerable on Web pages because of the egalitarian nature of Web publishing and the low resolution of computer monitors in comparison to print. More recently, the correct use of the typographic apostrophe is becoming more common on the Web due to the wide adoption of the Unicode text encoding standard, near-universal Web-browser support, higher-resolution displays, and advanced anti-aliasing of text in modern operating systems. With the spread of Unicode support in computer operating systems and Internet software, the typographic apostrophe can be used nearly anywhere. Nevertheless, the tradition of using the typewriter apostrophe continues in most situations. The majority of English Wikipedia articles use it; and it is currently recommended, along with straight quotation marks ( " " and ' ' ), by Wikipedia's Manual of Style (WP:MOS) – an increasingly influential resource for style on the Web.

How to enter typographic quotation marks and apostrophes on a computer
  Macintosh keyboard Windows keyboard
Single opening  ‘  Option-[ Hold Alt while typing 0145 on the number pad
Single closing (apostrophe)  ’  Option-Shift-[ Hold Alt while typing 0146 on the number pad
Double opening  “  Option-] Hold Alt while typing 0147 on the number pad
Double closing  ”  Option-Shift-] Hold Alt while typing 0148 on the number pad

Smart Quotes

To make typographic apostrophes easier to enter, wordprocessing and publishing software often converts typewriter apostrophes to typographic apostrophes during text entry (at the same time converting opening and closing single and double quotes to their correct left-handed or right-handed forms). A similar facility may be offered on web servers after submitting text in a form field, e.g. on weblogs or free encyclopedias. This is known as the smart quotes feature; apostrophes and quotation marks that are not automatically altered by computer programs are known as dumb quotes.

Such conversion is not always done in accordance with the standards for character sets and encodings. Additionally, many such software programs incorrectly convert a leading apostrophe to an opening quotation mark (e.g., in abbreviations of years: ‘29 rather than the correct ’29 for the year 2029; or ‘twas instead of ’twas as the archaic abbreviation of it was. A quick way to get the correct result in Microsoft Word is to type two apostrophes (sometimes using a space as well, as required), and then delete the first. Smart quote features also often fail to recognise situations when a prime rather than an apostrophe is needed; for example, incorrectly rendering the latitude 49° 53′ 08″ as 49° 53’ 08”.

In Microsoft Word it is possible to turn smart quotes off (in some versions, by navigating through Tools, AutoCorrect, AutoFormat as you type, and then checking the appropriate option). Alternatively, typing CONTROL-Z (for Undo) immediately after entering the apostrophe will convert it back to a straight apostrophe.

Typewriter apostrophe and ASCII encoding

The typewriter apostrophe ( ' ) was inherited by computer keyboards, and is the only apostrophe character available in the (7-bit) ASCII character encoding, which is the original basis for the computer representation of the Latin alphabet.

As such, it is a highly overloaded character. In ASCII, it represents a right single quotation mark, left single quotation mark, apostrophe, vertical line or prime (punctuation marks), or an apostrophe modifier or acute accent (modifier letters). (The separate ASCII grave accent ( ` ), intended as a modifier and assigned its own key on many keyboards, has sometimes found a non-standard role as a single opening quote.)

Typographic apostrophe and 8-bit encodings

Support for the typographic apostrophe ( ’ ) was introduced in a variety of 8-bit character encodings, such as the Apple Macintosh operating system's Mac Roman character set (in 1984), and later in the CP1252 encoding of Microsoft Windows.

Older 8-bit character encodings, like Windows CP1252, Mac Roman or ISO-8859-1, universally support the typewriter quote in the same position, 39, inherited from ASCII (as does Unicode; see below). However, most of them place the typographic apostrophe in different positions. ISO-8859-1, a common encoding used for web pages, omits the typographic apostrophe altogether.

Microsoft Windows CP1252 (sometimes incorrectly called ANSI or ISO-Latin) is a duplicate of ISO-8859-1, with 27 additional characters in the place of control characters (in the range from 128 to 159). Microsoft software usually treats ISO-8859-1 as if it were CP1252. The wide adoption of Microsoft's web browser and web server has forced many other software makers to adopt this as a de facto convention – in some cases contravening established standards unnecessarily (e.g., some applications use CP1252 character values in HTML numeric references, where Unicode values are required, and would be sufficient for interoperation with MS software). Consequently, the typographic apostrophe and several other characters are handled inconsistently by web browsers and other software, and can cause interoperation problems.

Unicode

There are several types of apostrophe character in Unicode:

The Nenets language has single and double letter apostrophes:

In Armenian language:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The English form apostrophe is due to its adoption via French and its current pronunciation as four syllables is due to a confusion with the rhetorical device apostrophé" (W. S. Allen, Vox Graeca. The pronunciation of classical Greek, 3rd edition, 1988. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 100, note 13).
  2. ↑ Style Guide, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/bjssg.pdf; The United States Government Printing Office Style Manual 2000, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/stylemanual/2000/chapter_txt-8.html; Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), 5.25: "The possessive of a multiword compound noun is formed by adding the appropriate ending to the last word {parents-in-law’s message}."
  3. ↑ CMOS, 7.25: "If plural compounds pose problems, opt for of. ... the professions of both my daughters-in-law."
  4. ↑ Is the English Possessive 's Truly a Right-Hand Phenomenon?
  5. ↑ This example is quoted from www.abc.net.au; see Chicago Manual of Style, 7.18.
  6. ↑ This example is quoted from The Gregg Reference Manual, 10th edition, 2005, paragraph 641.
  7. ↑ The Economist's Style Guide
  8. ↑ Possessives and Attributives, The Chicago Manual of Style Online
  9. ↑ The Guardian's Style Guide
  10. ↑ Emory University's Writing Center's "Use of the Apostrophe"
  11. ↑ The American Heritage Book of English Usage. 8. Word Formation b. Forming Possessives
  12. ↑ The Times Online Style Guide
  13. ↑ Vanderbilt University's Style Guide
  14. ↑ "DummiesWorld Wide Words". Retrieved on 2007-03-13.. Chicago Manual of Style, 7.22: "For...sake expressions traditionally omit the s when the noun ends in an s or an s sound." Oxford Style Manual, 5.2.1: "Use an apostrophe alone after singular nouns ending in an s or z sound and combined with sake: for goodness' sake".
  15. ↑ "Practice varies widely in for conscience' sake and for goodness' sake, and the use of an apostrophe in them must be regarded as optional" The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, ed. Burchfield, RW, 3rd edition, 1996, entry for "sake", p. 686.
  16. ↑ In February 2007 Arkansas historian Parker Westbrook successfully petitioned State Representative Steve Harrelson to settle once and for all that the correct possessive should not be Arkansas' but Arkansas's (Arkansas House to argue over apostrophes). Arkansas's Apostrophe Act came into law in March 2007 (ABC News [USA], 6 March 2007).
  17. ↑ U.S. Board on Geographic Names: FAQs; "How the Past Affects the Future: the Story of the Apostrophe", Cavella, C, and Kernodle, RA
  18. ↑ St James's Church Piccadilly website
  19. ↑ "The apostrophe has been dropped from most Australian place-names and street names: Connells Point; Wilsons Promontory; Browns Lane." The Penguin Working Words: an Australian Guide to Modern English Usage, Penguin, 1993, p. 41.
  20. ↑ The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, Ed. Peters, P, 2004, p. 43.
  21. ↑ Spelled both with and without the apostrophe at the court's own home page; but spelled with the apostrophe in Victorian legislation, such as Magistrates' Court Act, 1989.
  22. ↑ Gregg Reference Manual, 10th edition, 2003, distinguishes between what it calls possessive and descriptive forms, and uses this distinction in analysing the problem. From paragraph 628: "a. Do not mistake a descriptive form ending in s for a possessive form. / sales effort (sales describes the kind of effort)... b. Some cases can be difficult to distinguish. Is it the girls basketball team or the girls' basketball team? Try substituting an irregular plural like women. You wouldn't say the women basketball team; you would say the women's basketball team. By analogy, the girls' basketball team is correct" [italics applied exactly in original, including following punctuation]. And then this principle is applied to organizations at paragraph 640, where examples are given like Childrens Hospital, (in Los Angeles): "The names of many organizations, products, and publications contain words that could be considered either possessive or descriptive terms... c. In all cases follow the organization's preference when known."
  23. ↑ Apostrophe Protection Society's website.
  24. ↑ Times Online: Harrods told to put its apostrophe back.
  25. ↑ See OED, "Apostrophe2".
  26. ↑ In reports of very informal speech 's may sometimes represent does: "Where's that come from?"
  27. ↑ SOED gives fo'c's'le as the only shortened form of forecastle, though others are shown in OED. SOED gives bo's'n as one spelling of bosun, itself a variant of boatswain.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 "Purdue University Online Writing Lab: The Apostrophe". Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  29. ↑ Guide to Punctuation, Larry Trask, University of Sussex: "American usage, however, does put an apostrophe here: (A) This research was carried out in the 1970's."
  30. ↑ AskOxford.com
  31. ↑ http://www.paginasamarillas.es/resultados.asp?activ=Restaurantes+gallegos&nomb=O&prov=MADRID&pgpv=1&mode=listadirGalician restaurants with an 'o' in their names in Madrid]
  32. ↑ "In praise of apostrophes", BBC News, 5 October, 2001
  33. ↑ 'Fatal floors' in exam scripts, BBC News, 3 November, 2004
  34. ↑ Half of Britons struggle with the apostrophe, The Daily Telegraph, 11 November 2008
  35. ↑ Truss, Lynn. Eats, Shoots & Leaves. pp. 63–65.
  36. ↑ Christina Cavella and Robin A. Kernodle. "How the Past Affects the Future: The Story of the Apostrophe" (PDF). American University. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
  37. ↑ Titan Go King's, at nippop.com.
  38. ↑ Bill Bryson, Troublesome Words, Penguin second edition 1987, p177
  39. ↑ http://www.wwnorton.com/nto/20century/topic_4/shaw.htm
  40. ↑ The apostrophe
  41. ↑ Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
  42. ↑ In early French such elisions did occur: m'espée (ma +espée, modern French mon épée: "my sword"), s'enfance (sa +enfance, son enfance: "his or her childhood"). But the only modern survivals of this elision with apostrophe are m'amie and m'amour, as archaic and idiomatic alternatives to mon amie and mon amour ("my [female] friend", "my love"); forms without the apostrophe also used: mamie or ma mie, mamour.
  43. ↑ www.vladtv.ru
  44. ↑ www.pinyin.info.
  45. ↑ http://unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/NamesList.txt
  46. ↑ Unicode code charts>

Bibliography

External links