How to Use An Apostrophe

Posted by Alex in Blog & Internet, Book & Lit on November 4, 2009 at 2:36 am


Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal has just released another web project, How to Use An Apostrophe. It’s a hoot! (Notice the proper use of apostrophe in the preceding sentence).

Link (for extra goodness, see the source code) – Thanks Matthew!


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7 comments to "How to Use An Apostrophe"

  1. pwscott
    November 4th, 2009 at 7:23 am

    Thanks for the Elementary English lesson this morning.

  2. zavatone
    November 4th, 2009 at 8:40 am

    YAY.

  3. Kay
    November 4th, 2009 at 10:35 am

    The graphic is wrong about how to use apostrophe with an abbreviation of a year. In the New York Times, the preferred abbreviation is number-apostrophe-s (e.g., 90's), while in many other publications the preferred abbrevation is apostrophe-number-s (e.g., '90s). It has nothing to do with its being possessive or not.

    Not to mention the fact that the site's example starts a sentence with a numeral, which is wrong. Their "90's fashion was a bit awkward" should be "Nineties fashion was a bit awkward."

    Cute source code, though.

  4. Danb
    November 4th, 2009 at 11:13 am

    All you need is Bob the Angry Flower's guide to apostrophes:

    http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

  5. Wile E Coyote, Super-Genius
    November 4th, 2009 at 11:37 am

    Also notice the improper spelling of the word 'preceding' in the last sentence (entry 437 in the Big Book of Unintentional Ironies, '05, Houghton-Mifflin).

  6. Alex
    November 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Ahahahaha! Great catch, Wile E Coyote! Fixed now. It's Skitt's law in action.

  7. Wes
    November 6th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

    "... while in many other publications the preferred abbrevation is apostrophe-number-s (e.g., '90s). It has nothing to do with its being possessive or not."

    That bothered me, too. Possession has nothing to do with it. If you spelled it out, it would be "nineties fashion," not "nineties' fashion."


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