apostrophes or

First let’s all join in a hearty curse of the grammarians who insertedthe wretched apostrophe into possessives in the first place. It was alla mistake. Our ancestors used to write “Johns hat” meaning “the hat ofJohn” without the slightest ambiguity. However, some time in theRenaissance certain scholars decided that the simple “s” of possessionmust have been formed out of a contraction of the more “proper” “Johnhis hat.” Since in English we mark contractions with an apostrophe, theydid so, and we were stuck with the stupid “John’s hat.” Their error canbe a handy reminder though: if you’re not sure whether a noun ending in“s” should be followed by an apostrophe, ask yourself whether you couldplausibly substitute “his” or “her” for the S.The exception to this pattern involves personal pronouns indicating possessionlike “his,” “hers,” and “its.” For more on this point, see “its/it’s.”Get this straight once and for all: when the S is added to a wordsimply to make it a plural, no apostrophe is used (except in expre

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• epitomy vs epitome
• seam vs seem
• resign vs re-sign
• hock vs hawk
• wreckless vs reckless
• infact vs in fact
• grammer vs grammar
• hyperdermic vs hypodermic
• benefactor vs beneficiary
• acapella vs a capella vs a cappella

News & Articles

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• Bad luck 'O' the Irish: Apostrophe in name could get you thrown off flights in ID mix-up
  Bill O'Reilly, Rosie O'Donnell and Maureen O'Hara could soon be thrown off U.S. flights under tough new airline rules. The reason? The Transportation Security Administration will soon insist on matching passengers’ boarding passes to their IDs - including any apostrophes hyphen and initials.
  June 28, 2013 - Irish Central

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• Colombia close in on World Cup
  Colombia moved closer to the 2014 World Cup finals after two first half goals gave them a 2-0 home win over Peru. Colombia moved to second in the CONMEBOL group standings, three points behind Argentina who drew 1-1 in Ecuador despite having Javier Mascherano red carded four minutes from time.
  June 12, 2013 - Soccer365
• Colombia : Congress should reject law reforming the military justice system
  Members of Colombia ’s Congress should reject a proposed law which will shield members of the armed forces and the police from justice for crimes under international law. June 12, 2013 International Members of Colombia ’s Congress should reject a proposed law whose purpose is to give greater powers to the military justice system and which will shield members of the armed forces and the police ...
  June 12, 2013 - Amnesty International
• Colombia Can Keep Stimulus Until at Least Year End, Cano Says
  Colombia’s central bank can maintain its current monetary stimulus until at least the end of the year without putting its inflation target at risk, central bank co- director Carlos Gustavo Cano said.
  June 11, 2013 - Bloomberg