Spirited Scriveners

Susan Crawford is an ongoing and ever-studying student of grammar. She also taught grammar for ten years. And for more than 20 years she wrote a monthly grammar column in a professional newsletter published for law firms.

                 I – How one apostrophe can ruin Christmas

            Merry  Christmas from 

                        the Williams  ?
                        the Williams’  ?
                        the William’s  ?
                        the Williamses  ?
                        the Williams’es  ?
                        the Williamses’  ?
            Punctuation counts in ways that will surprise you.  

            Christmas cards are a good example. No matter how lovely or expensive the card, sign it Merry Christmas from the Williams’ and you’ve just blown your once-a-year chance to impress your friends. You wanted to make Williams plural. But you made it possessive instead and that doesn’t make sense.

            It’s easy to see why. Replace Williams with some simple name like Smith, and you have Merry Christmas from the Smith’. That’s not what you meant at all.

            An apostrophe says something is missing. That’s obvious with contractions. Can’t, aren’t, and won’t  have an o missing. With I’m, there’s an a missing. With he’s and it’s, the i is missing.

            And when you get poetic, an apostrophe can show other missing letters as in o’er the deep blue sea and ’tis. The same for slang phrases such as ’fraid so or ’tain’t my problem or pot o’ gold.

            So how do you sign that Christmas card?   

            Not difficult. An apostrophe won’t make anything plural, so leave it out. There’s nothing missing. Again, instead of Williams, use some simple name that also ends in s, such as Jones or Burgess. You know instinctively to add an –es and say the Joneses or the Burgesses. Do the same with Williams. Make it Merry Christmas from the Williamses. 

            And if you get confused or lost, just write it another way you’re sure is correct, maybe from the Williams family or from Margaret and John Williams.

            One last thing.  Some people do use an apostrophe with the plurals of letters, numbers, and symbols:  put the 3’s in this column and that word has four d’s and I want to use three $’s for that much money. However, the apostrophe is not necessary there, because nothing is missing, so you are quite free — and quite correct — to write them as 3s and dsand $s. It’s up in the air – your choice.    

Post script: Now that you know an apostrophe stands for a missing letter, you’ll appreciate a sign that stood for many years at the exit of a bank. It said Thank’s for Banking with Us. Take out the apostrophe, and that says  Thank Is for Banking with Us. Not a good way to attract customers.

You can catch the second part of Susan’s apostrophe lesson in upcoming posts along with her beautiful poetry and captivating storytelling.