--- title: The apostrophe war — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The apostrophe war», a lesson of the language course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: The apostrophe (') has two jobs: it shows missing letters (it's = it is, don't = do not) and it shows belonging (the dog's bowl); it never makes a pla --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/) / The apostrophe war # The apostrophe war Lesson 15 of the language course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/0/) — The apostrophe (') has two jobs: it shows missing letters (it's = it is, don't = do not) and it shows belonging (the dog's bowl); it never makes a plain plural, so "Apple's 40p" on a shop sign is wrong. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/1/) — Where it sits tells you how many owners there are: the dog's bowl (one dog), the dogs' bowl (several dogs sharing), the dog's bowls (one dog, lots of bowls). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/2/) — Plurals that don't end in s just add 's: the children's toys, the men's toilets, the people's choice; plurals ending in s add only ': the ladies' toilets. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/3/) — Grown-ups really do fight about it: Birmingham took apostrophes off its street signs in 2009, the bookshop Waterstones dropped its apostrophe in 2012, and an Apostrophe Protection Society ran from 2001 to 2019. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/4/) — Some questions have two accepted answers: James's book and James' book are both used, and even famous places disagree: St James' Park in Newcastle, St James's Park in London; pick one style and stick to it, and copy official names exactly. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/5/) — An apostrophe shows missing letters or shows belonging; it is not used to make plurals. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/6/) — The greengrocer's apostrophe is the name for a wrong apostrophe in a plural, like "Banana's 30p"; a greengrocer is a shop selling fruit and vegetables. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/7/) — The dog's bowl means one dog's bowl; the dogs' bowl means one bowl shared by several dogs; the dog's bowls means one dog with several bowls. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/8/) — Both James's book and James' book are used; style guides differ, and what matters is being consistent. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/9/) — St James' Park is the football ground in Newcastle; St James's Park is a royal park in London; for names, copy the official spelling. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/10/) — Shops choose their own names: Sainsbury's keeps its apostrophe, Harrods has none, and Waterstones dropped its apostrophe in 2012, causing an argument in the newspapers. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/11/) — In 2009 Birmingham City Council dropped apostrophes from its street signs, and many people protested; in 2013 Mid Devon council tried a similar ban and changed its mind after complaints. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/12/) — Modern style guides write decades as "the 1990s" with no apostrophe; in "the '90s" the apostrophe shows the missing "19". - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/13/) — It's means it is or it has; its means belonging to it and has no apostrophe, like his and her. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/14/) — The Apostrophe Protection Society was set up in 2001 and closed in 2019; its founder John Richards said "ignorance and laziness" had won, while others said apostrophes aren't that important. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/15/) — Plurals not ending in s add 's for belonging: children's, men's, women's, people's. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/15-the-apostrophe-war/16/) — Plurals ending in s add just an apostrophe for belonging: ladies', the girls' changing room. - ← previous: [Punctuation that changes meaning](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/14-punctuation-that-changes-meaning/) - next →: [Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/16-formal-and-informal-a-mate-versus-the-head-teacher/) - ↑ back to [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/)