Apostrophe Сatastrophes
Apostrophe errors are extremely common, especially when the possessive case is involved. Take the phrase the people’s choice, which means ‘the choice of the people’. This is often incorrectly styled as *the peoples’ choice, which means ‘the choice of the peoples’. Writers somehow forget, when they’re placing the apostrophe, that people is already plural. A similar mistake occurs with other plurals formed without an ‘s’, like children – instead of children’s, we get *childrens’. So be careful where you put the mark.
The use of its and it’s is another frequent source of error, and it can diminish authority. It can happen easily, because we think of the apostrophe as marking possessive case: I read Mary’s book, the cat’s bowl needs filling, but *The company found it’s way. To avoid this mistake, remember that it’s is always short for it is or it has. Its has the same pattern as other possessive pronouns like hers and theirs, which take no apostrophe: It’s time for its walk.
Strictly speaking, apostrophes fall under orthography rather than grammar. In general usage, though, grammar often refers to spelling, punctuation, and style, so we’ve included the apostrophe here.
