Putting your apostrophes in the right places on those ubiquitous carved wooden welcome signs is pretty easy once you know the rules. There’s no greater motivation than making all those grammar fuddy-duddies think better of you! But, before I examine the rules for the use of apostrophes and how their literary status has earned its reputation, I want to make one thing very clear … I am writing this to be useful, that’s all. I couldn’t care less if you get your quotes wrong. There are many more important things in life and in nature to crawl into a soap box! Also, these things (and the rules) are not written in granite!

The apostrophe has four main uses: possession, omission (contractions), plurals, and phrases of time or measure; however, when it comes to knowing how best to create proper identification on custom welcome signs, we will focus on the mystery of the possessive and plural business only – time and omissions wait for no one! At the most basic level, if you need to do a possessive, flip the phrase over and turn it into a “from …” phrase. For example: man’s hat = man’s hat; or three-day trip = three-day trip. Once it’s been determined that you need to make a possessive, here are the rules for creating one: add ‘s to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s) like the neighbor’s car or Louis’s hat. Add ‘s to plural forms that do not end in -s like, children’s toys and the moose’s whistle. Add only the ‘to the end of plural nouns ending in -s like, house decks’ and three-dog tails. Add ‘s to the end of compound words like, my mother-in-law’s comments. Finally, add ‘s to the last of the compound nouns to show joint possession of an object like Thom and Elaine’s house.

And of course some exceptions (as surprised as I’m sure you are!): Some words sound awkward when an apostrophe ‘s’ is added, like Jesus’ disciples, so the accepted way is to simply use the apostrophe ‘s’: Disciples of Jesus. Interestingly, this only applies to names of biblical or historical importance, for example, Jesus, Moses, Ramses … The followers of Moses, the pyramid of Ramses. Others do not have an awkward sound, like the princess bed. Just be consistent! Although it is worth noting that some “experts will say something like” … words that end with an s present a problem. There are two valid options in this case. It is the teaching of Jesus or the teaching of Jesus.

Elegance would seem to exclude the latter … “Look what I mean about being consistent! The confusion really arises when the apostrophe is used with a plural noun: the lair of vipers … more than one snake in that lair , so the s’ – the lair of vipers! Generally speaking, if there is an owner – add an apostrophe and then ‘s’ and if there are two or more owners – add’ s’ and then an apostrophe. internal (instead of adding ‘s’), like the children’s table … it is already in plural, we do not stack it! It is the same with the words people, women … and so on. in S, you continue the same rules as with any other name and add the apostrophe S: Thomas’s car. Plural nouns also follow the same rules: Thomas’s house (add -es to names ending in S to indicate the plural form) otherwise, whose name ends in S, you generally let your ear be your guide.

If Lars’s house sounds awkward, feel free to skip the final S. The only rule in this case is that it must (MUST) be consistent. You can’t have Lars’s two-car garage and then Lars’s property. On a welcome sign, it’s just not going to happen! Z This whole apostrophological anomaly thing (I can’t believe I used it again!) Is being stirred up passionately among some people, and entire subcultures have formed to push for the universal. observance of the mystery of the apostrophe. I am not of that set of beliefs; I’m just a sign guy; however, I am quite sensitive about getting these things right. I think all you really have to ask yourself is, “Does my sign refer to the object it’s attached to, Larson’s cabin?” And then, is it every gang’s hut? Either way, I don’t think it’s grammatical, it’s “Apostrophological!”