Anthology of Ideas

The apostrophe is one of the easiest punctuation marks to use–assuming that is, that people care enough about their feelings as to not misuse and abuse them.

The Basics:

The apostrophe has three valid uses:

1. They show possession or ownership
   • John’s apple
   • Class’s books
2. They indicate omitted letters and words.
   • It’s (it is)
   • Ya’ll (You all)
3. They indicate the plurals of numbers, abbreviations, letters and words.
   • 1990’s
   • Ph.D’s
   • f’s

Beyond the basics
Below are sentences that one may find in normal writing, and not all of the apostrophes are used correctly. Try to find these errors before reading the explanations.