Easter egg's and Easter bunnie's don't have apostrophe's!

by: Marilyn Owen (2 April 2015)

It is well-known that proofreaders and grammar geeks are pernickety about various points of grammar and punctuation. And why shouldn’t they be? Personally, nothing irks me more than seeing misplaced apostrophes. Such apostrophe crimes are spattered all over my facebook page from posts and comments replete with such well- meaning mistakes. I say well-meaning because the people who make them are my friends and it is not etiquette to correct people’s mistakes outside business hours!

An example of an apostrophe in the wrong context

Here is one example – “It's day three of the electioneering, and already I'm wishing they all go off on their holiday's and leave us in peace.” That is certainly well expressed, but you can see the misplaced apostrophe . . .

The point is that you don’t require an apostrophe in a normal plural noun. The purpose of an apostrophe is to denote either contraction or possessive nouns – as in “I don’t care where you put the apostrophe” (an example of a contraction) and “children’s Easter Egg hunt ideas” !

If you are still unsure where to place apostrophes in your document, do have your work checked by an experienced proofreader. At WriteItClearly.com, we have all been trained in the intricacies of English grammar; especially confusing when your first language is not English.

Views: 1330

Other articles on Pronunciation and languages and Communication and language