Writing Tips: Proper Use of Possessives and Contractions

For most things, this is very clear: If it belongs to someone, possessive, then an apostrophe S is required at the end of the word or name.

Examples: That is the dog's dish. That belongs to Sally's aunt.

If it is a contraction, and two words are pushed together with some letters missing, then an apostrophe replaces the missing letters.

Examples:

Do not = Don't

Could not = Couldn't

But then there are the oddball exceptions to this rule, where no one really knows why things are done this way; we just have to learn that they are.

Examples: Will not = Won't (shrug)

Yet, most people get this right most of the time. The one that seems to cause the most problems is its versus it's.

Because the apostrophe contraction for it's means IT IS, the possessive form of this word does not include a contraction. Presumably, this was done in order to alleviate confusion between the two words, but in actuality, most people get it wrong, because it is an exception to the possessive rule above.

IT'S is a contraction that stands for IT IS. Anytime you want to use IT IS, you can replace it with IT'S.

ITS is the possessive form of the word IT, meaning that IT owns or possesses something.

Example: The building was destroyed in the fire, almost completely. It's not easy to understand why its door frames were still standing.

The first instance of IT'S stands for IT IS, but the second instance of ITS refers to the door frames belonging to the building. IT is the building, and ITS is used to denote possession of the door frames. Silly example, I know, but it makes its point. Ah, there's another instance or ITS used in the possessive.

Now, let's look at some other often wrongly used posessive:

CD and DVD are two very commonly used acronyms that are often misused when writing their plural versions, so I will use them as my examples, but these grammar and punctuation rules pertain to any word or acronym. One sure-fired way when using initials like this is to spell the words out and ask yourself if you would then put an apostrophe on the spelled out words or not.

You see, while we use CD and DVD as 'words' they are actually acronyms standing for 'compact disc' and 'digital video disc'. Do you know how many times I have seen, "I bought some CD's today."

So you bought some compact disc's today? No you bought compact discs.

The only time you would type this as CD's or DVD's is if you were using the possessive form of the word, meaning something belonged to the CD or DVD. While it's not a common use for these types of acronyms, one example might be:

"That is the CD's case."

Otherwise, when using the plural form of the words, meaning more than one CD or more than one DVD, you would type this as CDs and DVDs.

Lastly, let's look at dates.

Contractions are words in which something is missing, usually two words merged into on contracted version of the word.Cannot = Can't - the apostrophe is for the missing N

Do not = Don't - the apostrophe is for the missing O

The same rule applies for dates. The apostrophe is for the missing numbers, not between the number and the letter 's'.For example:1800 = the 1800s

1999 is shortened to '99

And we lived in the decade of the '80s - NOT the 80's.If you want your writing to be professional, it is important to pay attention to these little details that will separate your writing from all the other grammatically incorrect ramblings that bounce around on the internet.