It has come to my attention that very few people (at least those I have observed recently) are aware of the proper usage of certain elements of the English language. I therefore take it upon myself to educate those who are not privy to this sacred information, in the hopes that someday everyone will use them properly.
To begin, I will tackle the humble apostrophe, outlining improper uses or lack thereof I have observed, and explain why they are incorrect.
1. Using an apostrophe in "its" when denoting possession. For example: "The dog brought me it's ball."
The reason people make this mistake is that when the sentence has a definite subject, you do use an apostrophe. To wit: "I picked my dad's keys up off the table." or "I borrowed Paul's umbrella."
The thing is, "its" is an exception because the apostrophe denotes something else entirely, which I'll get to in a second. So the correct sentence would be "The dog brought me its ball."
2. Using apostrophes for plurals. For example: "I ate two apple's today."
This one's pretty self-explanatory. Plurals do not require an apostrophe. Correct: "I ate two apples today."
3. Not using apostrophes for contractions.
What is a contraction, you ask? In the English language, there are several words we use to make two joined words shorter in speech, such as won't, don't, can't, shouldn't, let's, etc.
The thing all of these have in common is that the apostrophe actually stands in for a letter, which if used in its full form would make two words. Won't is actually a contraction of "will not", don't is a contraction of "do not" etc. The letter being replaced is usually an O, but this isn't always the case, as with let's (which is a contraction of "let us".
So there you have it, the proper uses of the apostrophe.
Next up, your and you're. I see people use these all the time, in exactly the wrong places. Let's take a look at each.
Your denotes possession. You use it when you're talking about something the person you're addressing owns. "I like your hat."
You're is a contraction (see the apostrophe topic) of "you are". You should only use this when you could logically use "you are" in place of it. "I think you're really funny." "You're a complete idiot."
So next time somebody says to you "your an idiot", just point out that you don't own an object called "an idiot". Or maybe you do.
Next up is something that makes some grown men cry. The difference between there, their, and they're. It's another one that seems to confuse a lot of people, so here I am coming to your rescue! Or just pissing you off. One of the two.
There denotes location. "If you need me I'll be over there." "There's my cat!" There is a slightly confusing almost-exception to this whereby you can use it in ways like "There is no way I'm doing that." There in this context doesn't -exactly- denote location in a physical sense, but it's still the proper usage.
Their is a plural possessive. It's like your, but for more than one person. "Their hats are the same colour."
And they're is yet another contraction, this one being "they are". It's used the same way as you're, but for more than one person. "They're starting to get on my nerves."
A much-contested point is that their and they're can also be used as gender-neutral singulars. I personally have no problem with this, but some people don't think it's proper English to do so.
To begin, I will tackle the humble apostrophe, outlining improper uses or lack thereof I have observed, and explain why they are incorrect.
1. Using an apostrophe in "its" when denoting possession. For example: "The dog brought me it's ball."
The reason people make this mistake is that when the sentence has a definite subject, you do use an apostrophe. To wit: "I picked my dad's keys up off the table." or "I borrowed Paul's umbrella."
The thing is, "its" is an exception because the apostrophe denotes something else entirely, which I'll get to in a second. So the correct sentence would be "The dog brought me its ball."
2. Using apostrophes for plurals. For example: "I ate two apple's today."
This one's pretty self-explanatory. Plurals do not require an apostrophe. Correct: "I ate two apples today."
3. Not using apostrophes for contractions.
What is a contraction, you ask? In the English language, there are several words we use to make two joined words shorter in speech, such as won't, don't, can't, shouldn't, let's, etc.
The thing all of these have in common is that the apostrophe actually stands in for a letter, which if used in its full form would make two words. Won't is actually a contraction of "will not", don't is a contraction of "do not" etc. The letter being replaced is usually an O, but this isn't always the case, as with let's (which is a contraction of "let us".
So there you have it, the proper uses of the apostrophe.
Next up, your and you're. I see people use these all the time, in exactly the wrong places. Let's take a look at each.
Your denotes possession. You use it when you're talking about something the person you're addressing owns. "I like your hat."
You're is a contraction (see the apostrophe topic) of "you are". You should only use this when you could logically use "you are" in place of it. "I think you're really funny." "You're a complete idiot."
So next time somebody says to you "your an idiot", just point out that you don't own an object called "an idiot". Or maybe you do.
Next up is something that makes some grown men cry. The difference between there, their, and they're. It's another one that seems to confuse a lot of people, so here I am coming to your rescue! Or just pissing you off. One of the two.
There denotes location. "If you need me I'll be over there." "There's my cat!" There is a slightly confusing almost-exception to this whereby you can use it in ways like "There is no way I'm doing that." There in this context doesn't -exactly- denote location in a physical sense, but it's still the proper usage.
Their is a plural possessive. It's like your, but for more than one person. "Their hats are the same colour."
And they're is yet another contraction, this one being "they are". It's used the same way as you're, but for more than one person. "They're starting to get on my nerves."
A much-contested point is that their and they're can also be used as gender-neutral singulars. I personally have no problem with this, but some people don't think it's proper English to do so.
