Let’s Learn English, 3

Apostrophes

The online ‘Oxford Dictionaries’ give two main instances where the apostrophe is needed:

“Using apostrophes to show possession

Using apostrophes to show omission”

Richard Dobbs of  another online website entitled  ‘Grammar and Style in British English’  says, ” a third use, the pluralisation of words and letters in such expressions as mind your p’s and q’s, is controverial.”

So for now we’ll concentrate on the first two uses, possession and omission. 

“The main guidelines it gives for showing possession are:

“Singular nouns and most personal names: add an apostrophe plus ‘s’:

We met at Ben’s party.

The dog’s tail wagged rapidly.

Yesterday’s weather was dreadful.

”Personal names that end in ‘s’:add an apostrophe plus ‘s’ if you would normally pronounce an extra ‘s’ if you said the word out loud:

He joined Charles’s army in 1642.