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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