Booher's Rules of Business Grammar - Dianna Booher 2009
Whatever possessed me!
Perplexing possessives
No, we are not talking about demonic possession—or even possessive mothers-in-law or spouses. Here’s the concept: Make words singular or plural, and then show ownership by adding either an apostrophe or an apostrophe and an —s. If the word already ends in an —s, don’t add another —s unless you pronounce the extra —s as a separate syllable.
Examples: “Ebeneezer drove Chris’s car to the company party and had a great time. But on the way home, things happened. He lost the Joneses’ house keys, hit a cop’s car, and crashed into his boss’s front gate. He was just lucky that the children’s bedroom was not located at the front of the house and that they were unharmed. And that was just the beginning of his trouble. An eyewitness to both his mishaps called the police, who showed up immediately to ticket him. As they searched his car, the police officers discovered that both bosses’ laptops with the company’s trade secrets had been stolen from the trunk of his car. Officer James Potts’s investigative report contained comments from the eyewitness that Ebeneezer appeared to be talking on a cell phone and watching a DVD while the car was in motion.”
Chris’s car (singular; then add apostrophe and —s to show possession)
the Joneses’ house keys (plural; then show possession with the apostrophe; the plural form ends in —s already, so no extra —s is added to show possession because the extra syllable is not pronounced)
cop’s car (singular; then add apostrophe and —s to show possession)
boss’s front gate (singular; then add apostrophe and —s to show possession)
children’s bedroom (plural; then add apostrophe and —s to show possession)
bosses’ laptops (plural; then add apostrophe to show possession; the word ends in —s already, so no extra —s to show possession because the extra syllable is not pronounced)
company’s trade secrets (singular; then add apostrophe and —s to show possession)
James Potts’s (singular; then add apostrophe and —s to show possession)
Visualize the apostrophe as the line of demarcation—the dividing line, the line that says end of the singular or plural word, the point that says, stop. What comes at the point of the apostrophe adds another twist to the word altogether—the idea of ownership.
The chapters in this section detail the most common mistakes with possessives.
62. Whatever possessed me!
IT’S VERSUS ITS
People sometimes cement in their minds that apostrophes show ownership and jump to this conclusion: It’s shows ownership. That’s logical thinking, but the wrong conclusion.
Apostrophes show ownership with nouns: Jake’s desk, Ziggy’s job, Jamale’s commission check. But pronouns already have possessive forms without apostrophes: his, her, hers, your, yours, my, mine, our, ours, their, theirs, whose, its.
Tossing an apostrophe into any of these pronouns is incorrect.
Incorrect:
their’s, ours’, your’s, hers’, his’
Another use altogether for an apostrophe is to show missing letters, such as in a contraction: don’t, can’t, I’ll, they’ve. Like these other contractions, the word it’s is a contraction, meaning it is.
Incorrect:
The building was damaged; it’s roof was leaking after the rain.
Correct:
The building was damaged; its roof was leaking after the rain.
When you’re confused between the two choices, substitute it is. If that’s your meaning, you need the words that can be broken into two parts. Example: “It’s tires are damaged.” Substitute and read, “It is tires are damaged,” and you’ll know that you have the wrong word. Example: “It’s too late to help.” Substitute and read, “It is too late to help,” and you’ll know that you have the correct word.
If the substitution doesn’t work, you’re showing ownership and need no apostrophe—just like his, hers, theirs, yours, and ours.
Memory tip
Substitute it is in the sentence. If the substitution works, use it’s.