Comments on: Five simple rules for perfect apostrophes

By: Eleanor Meecham

Eleanor Meecham — Wed, 16 May 2018 20:07:03 +0000

In reply to Siubhan Green. You are most welcome, Siubhan :-)

By: Siubhan Green

Siubhan Green — Wed, 16 May 2018 05:49:15 +0000

Thank you Eleanor, those were my thoughts also but I wanted to be sure so appreciate the clarification (and so promptly too). 🙂

By: Eleanor Meecham

Eleanor Meecham — Tue, 15 May 2018 20:59:16 +0000

In reply to Siubhan Green. Siubhan, that's a great question! The difficulty with your sentence is that the words 'fire fighters' could act as either a possessive (showing who the uniform belongs) or an adjective (describing what type of uniform it is). As this sentence already clearly identifies whose uniform this is (it's 'his'), I suggest choosing to see the words 'fire fighters' as an adjective and leave the apostrophe out. This post on apostrophe usage from Grammar Girl explains the confusion in more detail. It's tricky, and not everyone agrees. When in doubt, you can always try rewriting the sentence to avoid having to decide!

By: Siubhan Green

Siubhan Green — Tue, 15 May 2018 06:43:30 +0000

Thank you for this. I knew about ownership but am struggling with the following sentence.
He can see himself in his Fire Fighters uniform.
Should I put an apostrophe after the r in Fighters?

By: Dave McKinnon

Dave McKinnon — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 04:57:36 +0000

Arthur’s Pass and Hawke’s Bay (the region) are the only NZ place names that still have the apostrophe, I believe.

By: Gary Burns

Gary Burns — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 05:32:26 +0000

excellent explanation

By: Ebenezer

Ebenezer — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 16:17:23 +0000

Thanks for sharing the basic rules

By: kevin

kevin — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 01:05:47 +0000

If only you’d been around in Year 7…….

By: Agnes Han

Agnes Han — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 07:08:45 +0000

Thanks, from time to time I am bound to find it confusing – particularly for subject ending with “s”

By: eleanormeecham

eleanormeecham — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 22:01:30 +0000

Thanks Stuart. That’s fascinating. It’s so interesting to watch how language changes over time, and the decisions people (and governments) make to move with the times.

By: Stuart Camp

Stuart Camp — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 21:56:55 +0000

What a lovely simple set of rules. Thank you.
A point of note in relation to street names. In New Zealand, the Government passed a ruling a number of years ago that stree names no longer have apostrophes in them, irrespective of how the name originated. Makes for simplicity.