Apostrophes | Grammar Desk
Apostrophes | Grammar Desk
Apostrophes are tricky things.
Fortunately, I keep the Commonwealth Style manual on my desk, so questions like these are answered pretty quickly.
According to the Style manual:
Plural nouns ending in s take the s apostrophe:
The governments' budgets
Students' answers
Like governments and students, consultants is a common noun, and is plural.
Therefore:
Consultants' reports
not
Consultants’s reports
And, in case you were wondering:
In contrast, plural nouns that do not end in s take the apostrophe s:
The children's memories
The cattle's feeding pattern
Curiously, perhaps, possessive pronouns do not use the apostrophe s at all. Their standard forms are:
My your his her its our their
and
mine yours his hers its ours theirs
Affect is a verb. The weather affects her mood. She affected a superior pose.
Effect is a noun. The effects of global warming are disastrous. His presentation created a dramatic effect.
This is pretty much the rule of thumb. Simple, but straight to the point.
There are exceptions though:
Affect can be a noun—but only when it specifically refers to a feeling, or an emotional response. It's a particular term in the realm of psychology: Restricted, flat, or blunted affect may be a symptom of mental illness, especially schizophrenia.
Effect can also be a verb—this is a more common exception: Her administration effected radical changes.
Apostrophes are tricky things.
Fortunately, I keep the Commonwealth Style manual on my desk, so questions like these are answered pretty quickly.
According to the Style manual:
Plural nouns ending in s take the s apostrophe:
The governments' budgets
Students' answers
Like governments and students, consultants is a common noun, and is plural.
Therefore:
Consultants' reports
not
Consultants’s reports
And, in case you were wondering:
In contrast, plural nouns that do not end in s take the apostrophe s:
The children's memories
The cattle's feeding pattern
Curiously, perhaps, possessive pronouns do not use the apostrophe s at all. Their standard forms are:
My your his her its our their
and
mine yours his hers its ours theirs
Nouns, like Freddie or the desk, take an apostrophe s to show possession. Therefore, yes, it is Freddie's desk and the desk's owner is Freddie.
For plural nouns, the apostrophe comes after the s—the fly's wing (singular) and the flies' wings (plural). But it's a common mistake to write it's for its, or vice versa. The first is a contraction of it is; the second is a possessive. For example, It's [it is] time the dog went for walks on its own.
When in doubt, ask the government.
No, really; the Commonwealth Style Manual is your most reliable source for proper grammar usage. Not only is it completely grammatically sound, it is the style that all public service documents are (or should be) judged by.
Here it explains using apostrophes in relation to time:
It was previously conventional to use an apostrophe in expressions of time involving a plural reference, such as:
- six weeks' time
- three months' wages
The apostrophe is now often left out. Again, the sense of these phrases tends to be more descriptive than possessive.
When the time reference is in the singular, however, the apostrophe should be retained to help mark the noun as singular:
- A day's journey
- The year's cycle
Modern editorial style is typified by fewer capital letters than even 30 years ago. We probably all know to use a capital, or upper case, letter at the start of a sentence and with a proper noun, like a person's name or a place name—whether real or make-believe. (The Joneses live out past Woop Woop.)
But when a personal name eventually represents a common noun, the capital letter is dropped even if your computer urges you to capitalise. (The library has many books in braille.)
We capitalise the first word in quoted speech. (The Prime Minister said, 'Australia is committed to reducing greenhouse gases.') But if the quote is interrupted, the first word in the resumed text is not capitalised. ('Australia is committed', said the Prime Minister, 'to a reduction in greenhouse gases.')
Confusion sometimes arises when writing words whose formal title is capitalised. The rule is clear: capitalise the full, official name, but use lower case when these names or titles are reduced to a generic term. For example:
- The Australian Government funds education and public health in all the states and territories.
- The government will maintain funding for the states and territories at 2008 levels.
In the context of Australia's official title, the Commonwealth of Australia, the word Commonwealth is always capitalised.
- Foreign policy is a Commonwealth responsibility.
A capital letter is essential also because the word commonwealth has other meanings—and clarity is the key.
Legal writing is a hold-out against the trend to minimalising the use of capitals. Legal documents that define specific terms will often capitalise those terms throughout a text.
There are plenty of other words and terms that need a capital letter:
- days of the week and months of the year
- the names of deities (God, Allah, Vishnu)
- historical and cultural periods (the Renaissance, the First World War)
- proprietary names (Tamiflu, Tim Tams), and
- holidays, religious days and public events (Easter, Queen's Birthday holiday, the 2010 World Cup).
If you are ever in doubt about capitalisation, the Style manual: for authors, editors and printers sets out the standard for Australian usage. These rules are not flexible: they need to be learnt.
You are quite right in your grammatical definitions. 'Well' modifies verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, whereas 'good' modifies nouns.
For example:
- She plays the piano well ('well' modifies the verb 'plays') Her note reading skills are good ('good' modifies the noun 'skills')
But of course, there is an exception.
Technically, both 'good' and 'well' are acceptable in the modern vernacular. However, 'well' is more grammatically sound. 'How are you' is a modification of the traditional, 'How are you faring'; to which the appropriate response would be, 'I am faring well' ('well' modifying the verb 'faring').
Thus, finally:
'How are you?'
'I'm well.'
An idiom, or cliche, is a commonly used phrase whose meaning is indiscernible if taken literally.
For example: Turn the other cheek, under the weather, goes forward, at the end of the day and level playing field.
As a professional, don't write this sort of stuff.
Write clearly, express clear ideas and remember George Orwell's first rule of clear writing: Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. (George Orwell, Politics and the English Language).
A common mistake is to write it's for its, or vice versa. The first is a contraction of it is; the second is a possessive. For example,
It's [it is] time the dog went for walks on its own.
The author of Oxford Guide to Plain English, Martin Cutts, believes the apostrophe is so widely misused that its eventual death seems inevitable. Maybe. But, for now, a professional document must contain correctly used apostrophes. Put them in the wrong place or fail to use them when required, and your writing risks ambiguity and lack of clarity. And you or your organisation will be regarded as sloppy and amateurish by any reader who knows the difference.
The government recently announced it was taking up just nine of the hundreds of ideas laboured over at last year's 2020 Summit.
Some of the difficulty lay in the government not being able to work out what recommendation participants really wanted.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald last week, one participant urged the government to 'Expect innovation in delivery approaches to all initiatives'. And another asked that it 'manage risk instead of avoiding it in relation to innovation by people in the public sector'.
Summit participants didn't elaborate on how the government might accomplish these actions, if indeed they are actions.
But whatever they are, both 'clearly contradicted the suggestion made three points later: "Eliminate jargon in governance and bureaucracy".'
So true. If we're going to achieve best practice going forward, we've got to drill down into our language usage in order to take it to the next level.
At the end of the day, we want to gain traction and value-add so that it's a win-win all round. But don't stress—if you haven't yet operationalised the new paradigm, we'll give you the heads up.
In these situations, Macquarie Dictionary is always your friend.
Macquarie, following Australian English, is a failsafe for almost all grammatical uncertainties. It's certainly more reliable than the internet, as rules usually differ between countries. Such is the case with 'pro rata'.
Australians observe that the phrase derives from Latin. Therefore you cannot tamper with either form or spelling (For example: 'ad hoc'; 'modus operandi').
Other countries (the US specifically) also observe this; they just ignore it. Hence the existence of 'pro rated'. It is cause for much international resentment in the grammar world (for which your faithful Grammar Girl bears the brunt, being an American herself). But I digress.