Apostrophes

Peter Trudgill writes a column about the origin of words in The New European and is the author of Dialect Matters: Respecting Vernacular Language. What he has to say about possessive apostrophes is therefore of interest, both etymologically and in regard to current usage. Forget the ‘grocer’s apostrophe’ – cucumber’s, carrot’s, etc – which is just plain wrong, doesn’t denote possession, and adds to the gaiety of life for many a pedant (including me). His interest is in how people use apostrophes to bring clarity to meaning, and whether even a properly used apostrophe is strictly necessary in all circumstances.

We can’t hear when an apostrophe is being used. For example, whether we are saying ‘dont’ or ‘don’t;’ ‘shes’ or ‘she’s; ‘James’s’ or ‘Jameses;’ there’s (theres) no special additional inflexion to show we have included an apostrophe. Unlike when we differentiate ‘he’ll from hell,’ or ‘we’ll from well.’

So, if we don’t need them when we are talking, why do we need them when we write? Or does it depend on how formal the writing is? After all, Twitter/X has become a virtually apostrophe-free zone as people try to keep their text under the character limit.

Trudgill argues that the overuse of the apostrophe in formal writing, often when dates are involved: the 1960’s for the 1960s etc; and in notices – see the ubiquitous grocer’s apostrophe – comes from the writer trying too hard to use the correct form. And, indeed, many people do struggle to get it right when it comes to the possessive apostrophe, despite the ‘rule’ that one is used before the ‘s’ to denote possession in the singular – Mary’s book, Thomas’s picture. Or after, for the plural – the girls’ table tennis team.

Trudgill is not in favour of rules, favouring listening to how English people actually speak, and taking it from there. Hence, he offers a rule of thumb for guidance in using a possessive apostrophe: if in doubt leave it out. But if you do use one, make sure you get it right. Maybe the same should apply to apostrophe use elsewhere too.

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The Decline of the Apostrophe?

The linguist, Dr Vaclav Brezina, said recently “There has been a very noticeable drop in the use of apostrophes.” He puts this down to social media, where they are often left out to reduce the character count. Perhaps they are also left out in the interests of speed, or so that the tweeter, or whoever, comes across as ‘cool’ and not weighed down with stuffy grammatical niceties.

Dr Brezina recently lead a team of researchers who analysed a million words and found an 8% decline in the use of the apostrophe since the 1990s. Sounds plausible – though maybe the researchers didn’t include in their investigations the market stalls and shop windows where ‘greengrocer’s apostrophes’ still seem to be thriving – tomatoe’s and onion’s anyone? And didn’t take note either of the many student essays and office reports that insist on an apostrophe in dates – welcome to the 2020’s! Misuse so endemic that the founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society officially wound up his campaign in 2019 stating sadly that “ignorance has won.”

Many people will be happy to wave the apostrophe goodbye, claiming that we can make ourselves understood without it. Indeed it is impossible to replicate the apostrophe in speech, and we work out if we mean there, their, or they’re, from context. And complaints about the use of the apostrophe are as old as the apostrophe itself – Jane Austen and Shakespeare are among the literary greats who were inconsistent in their usage.

In fact the apostrophe was only invented in the sixteenth century as a printers’ tool, and many of its uses – primarily to denote possession, or indicate a missing letter – were only formalised in the nineteenth century. Maybe soon, style guides will be on the side of the ‘lazy’ students who don’t know their your from their you’re, or the 1960s from the 1960’s, and apostrophes will be assigned to the bin.

I’m sure we’d manage to understand each other most of the time. Though there will be some confusion. We wouldn’t know, for example, whether to just hold your nose, or call the police or environmental services if, when checking on your eccentric neighbour’s house whilst she was away, you found she’d left a note telling you to ignore the evil-smelling-tarpaulin-covered mound on the patio as it was her sons.

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