RAISED COMMAS  aka  “DRATTED APOSTROPHES”

These little things seem to cause more angst, confusion and errors than any other feature of our written language.  There is even a move afoot to eliminate them altogether.  Which would be tragic as they play a critical role in clarifying meaning.  By way of demonstration, can you decode the precise meaning of each of the following phrases:

1. The dog’s collar;                                                                                                                                

2. The dogs’ collars;                                                                                                                                  

3. The dog’s collars;                                                                                                                   

 4. The dogs’ collar.

Three words; the only differences being that two of the final words end in ‘s’ and also the position of the apostrophe.  Yet each of those four has a very different meaning and, lacking that little squiggle, the meaning would be, not only obscure, but impossible to work out.  Context could help of course but not necessarily.  Why make life harder than it need be?

Let’s see if I can clarify the issue.  Apostrophes have one job to do, and one only.  Part of the confusion lies in the fact that this one job has two different aspects to it.

The one job is that it indicates something has been left out so therefore it is a form of abbreviation.  

This happens when we turn speech into writing. When speaking we tend to hurry things along a bit – it’s much easier to say can’t and didn’t than cannot and did not.  Used in this way our squiggle is termed an “Apostrophe of Contraction” because we have left out, not only the space between two words, but one or more of the sounds and  therefore, the letters that represent those sounds, when we put it into writing.

The second instance is called the “Apostrophe of Possession” and is somewhat more complex.  But not impossible as there is a rule you can follow that simplifies things beautifully.  Before we get onto this “rule” let’s sort out just what is left out though.

Possession means someone or something belongs to someone or something; alternatively there is an owner and who or what is owned by that owner.  Thus it always involves two naming words (i.e. nouns in grammar speak).  For instance “Jane’s brooch” tells us that Jane owns the brooch; the brooch belongs to Jane.  Thus it is the words denoting ownership that have been omitted.

Well then, what is this rule that is going to simplify things?                                                                   

Take a deep breath and follow the steps:                                                                                                                        

1.  Work out who or what is the owner and what is being owned.                                            

 2.  Write down the name of the owner and nothing else.  If it is a person then the name is easy but if it happens to be more than one thing (e.g. a couple of dogs; a herd of cows; a fleet of yachts…) the owner is plural so that is what you must write down.                                                                                                                                    

3.  Add the apostrophe.                                                                                                                        

 4.  Say the phrase aloud (owner and what it is that belongs to that owner) listening carefully.  If you hear yourself saying “s” (or an extra “s” if the owner’s name happens to end in “s”) on the end of the owner then add it.                                                                                        

5.  Write down what is owned.

Done!  And done correctly.

The result can, on occasion look quite bizarre.  By way of example consider the following:  A visitor arrives, is welcomed and asked to take a seat; heads for a comfortable looking chair but host says, “Sorry, please don’t sit there.  That’s puss’s chair”.  Go through the steps and you’ll see this is grammatically correct, both spoken and written

Were you able to sort out the dogs and collars puzzle I gave you in the beginning?               

If not, here is the solution:                                                                            

1.  The dog’s collar (one dog and one collar – presumably that collar belongs to that dog).                                                                                                                                                                                 

2.  The dogs’ collars (several dogs each with its own collar).                                                                  

3.  The dog’s collars (obviously a pampered pooch with a whole wardrobe of collars!!).                                                                                                                                                            

4.  The dogs’ collar (possibly a succession of family dogs with the same collar serving several generations.  Or maybe – sad to say – several dogs having to share the same collar!!).                                                                  

© Mary McDee 2022

Feature Photo: The Dogs’ Collars © L.M. Kling 2013