Editing Tip(s) of the Day

The Apostrophe. The apostrophe has three uses:

1) to form possessives of nouns
2) to show the omission of letters
3) to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters

Apostrophes are NOT used for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals, including acronyms.

The apostrophe should not be confused with the right closing single quotation mark (usually rendered identically but serving a quite different purpose).

’ or ’ notice the direction? ' You may use a straight single quote, but be consistent in your document. Never use ‘ or ‘ which is a left single quote.

Examples:

If you have one cat: The cat’s water bowl needs to be filled with clean water.
If you have more than one cat: The cats' water bowls are dirty.

To omit letters: Don’t (do not), ’cause (omitting ‘be’), should’ve (should have omitting an ‘ha’), it’s (it is), I’ll (I will).
To omit numbers: ’90s means the 1990s (omitting ‘19’) NOT 90’s (used for temperature) or ‘90s (notice you don’t use a left single quote, never!).

Plurals of lowercase letters: Mind your p’s & q’s.

Here are two references: owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe