8. Adam usually recommends a fancy dessert such as a maple walnut ice cream sundae, but he is watching his weight. _____ 9. “If they created a better diet ice cream,” he often says, “I would eat a ton of it.” _____ 10. “Yes, and then you would weigh a ton yourself,” snaps Pam. _____ 11 She is a bit testy when faced with diet food. _____ 12. Of course, Adam could have been a little more diplomatic when he mentioned Pam’s “newly tight” sweater. _____ 13. Adam is planning to serve a special dessert wine, Chateau Adam 1999 , to his guests. _____ 14. He always serves that beverage at reunions of the class of 2006 . _____ 15. W e are planning to attend, but we will bring our own refreshments! _____ _____ 16. No one from the class of 1912 can attend; they are all too busy golfing. _____ _____ 17. For this, our tenth reunion, we ar e preparing a guessing game. _____ 18. Adam wants to know who is in charge of creating the questions. _____ 19. He is in charge because he knows the most gossip. _____ 20. W e will have to check the questions before the party. _____ 21. He would like nothing better than to shock us all with prying questions. _____ 22. At our last reunion, Adam should have been more careful. _____ 23. Three people cried because they could not remember the latest gossip item. _____ 24. Adam is not qualified to work for the new gossip magazine. _____ 25. I cannot tell a lie; I hope that Adam does not get the job. _____ _____ Taking Possession The pen of my aunt that you learn in foreign-language class becomes my aunt’s pen in standard English, with the help of an apostrophe. To show possession with apostrophes, keep these rules in mind: ߜ Singular owner: Attach an apostrophe and the letter s (in that order) to a singular person, place, or thing to express possession (Henry’s tooth, Rome’s dentists, the drill’s annoying whine). ߜ Plural owner: Attach an apostrophe to a regular plural (one that ends in s) to express possession (the boys’ restroom, the cities’ mayors, the billboards’ message). ߜ Irregular plural owner: Add an apostrophe and the letter s (in that order) to an irregular plural (one that doesn’t end in s) to express possession (the children’s toys, the data’s significance). ߜ Joint ownership: If two or more people own something jointly, add an apostrophe and an s (in that order) to the last name (Abe and Mary’s sofa; George, Jeb, and Barbara’s memories). 93 Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes 12_599321 ch07.qxp 4/3/06 11:23 PM Page 93 ߜ Separate ownership: If two or more people own things separately, everyone gets an apostrophe and an s (Abe’s and Mary’s pajamas; George’s, Jeb’s, and Barbara’s shoes). ߜ Hyphenated owner: If the word you’re working with is hyphenated, just attach the apostrophe and s to the end (mother-in-law’s office). For plurals ending in s, attach the apostrophe only (three secretary-treasurers’ accounts). ߜ Time and money: Okay, Father Time and Mr. Dollar Bill don’t own anything. Nevertheless, time and money may be possessive in expressions such as next week’s test, two hours’ homework, a day’s pay, and so forth. Follow the rules for singular and plural owners, as explained at the beginning of this bulleted list. Easy stuff, right? See whether you can apply your knowledge. Turn the underlined word (or words) into the possessive form. Write your answers in the blanks provided. Q. The style of this year muscle car is Jill favorite. A. year’s, Jill’s. Two singular owners. Jill is the traditional owner — a person, but the time expression also takes an apostrophe. 26. Car ol classic car is entered in tonight show. ______________________________ 27. She invested three months work in restoring the finish. _______________ 28. Carol will get by with a little help from her friends; Jess and Mar ty tires, which they pur- chased a few years ago with their first allowance, will be installed on her car. ______________________________ 29. The boys allowance, by the way, is far too generous, despite their sister-in-law objections. ______________________________ 30. Jill weekly paycheck is actually smaller than the brothers daily income. ______________________________ 31. Annoying as they are, the brothers donate a day pay from time to time to underfunded causes such as the W omen Committee to Protect the Environment. ______________________________ 32. Carol couldn’t care less about the environment; the car gas mileage is ridiculously low. _______________ 33. She cares about the car, however. She borrowed Jess and Mar ty toothbrushes to clean the dashboard. ______________________________ 34. Now she needs her helpers maximum support as the final judging nears. _______________ 35. She knows that the judge decision will be final, but just in case she has volunteered two thousand dollars worth of free gasoline to his favorite charity. ______________________________ 36. Car ol success is unlikely, because the court judgments can’t be influenced by anything but the law. ______________________________ 37. Last week, for example, the judge ruled in favor of a developer, despite the mother -in-law plea for a different verdict. _______________ 38. T en hours begging did no good at all. _______________ 39. Tomorrow the judge will rule on the car show effect on the native animals habitat. ______________________________ 94 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 12_599321 ch07.qxp 4/3/06 11:23 PM Page 94 40. The geese ecosystem is particularly sensitive to automotive exhaust. ______________________________ 41. The fish ecosystem is easily damaged as well. _______________ 42. In September, someone poured two weeks worth of used french-fry oil into a lake. _______________ 43. All the marine animals oxygen was trapped in the oil. _______________ 44. Ten months cleaning was needed to restore the water to purity. _______________ 45. The restaurant that dumped the oil accepted responsibility for the cook actions. _______________ Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Apostrophes Marty’s to-do list, shown in Figure 7-1, needs some serious editing. Check the apostrophe situation. You need to find nine spots to insert and six spots to delete an apostrophe. Things to Do This Week A. Call Johns doctor and arrange for a release of annual medical report. B. Check on last springs blood pressure numbers to see whether they need to be changed. C. Ask John about his rodent problem’s. D. Find out why networks cant broadcast Tuesdays speech live, as John needs prime-time publicity. E. Ask whether his’ fondness for long speeches’ is a problem. F. Send big present to network president and remind him that you are both Yale 06. G. Order bouquet’s for secretary and National Secretaries Week card. H. Rewrite speech on cat litter’ to reflect sister-in-laws ideas. I. Tell opposing managers assistant that “you guys wouldnt stand a chance” in the old day’s. Figure 7-1: Mock to-do list, full of apostrophe mistakes. 95 Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes 12_599321 ch07.qxp 4/3/06 11:23 PM Page 95 Answers to Apostrophe Problems a aren’t. The contraction drops the letter o and substitutes an apostrophe. b I’m, you’ll. In the first contraction, the apostrophe replaces the letter a. In the second, it replaces two letters, w and i. c won’t. This contraction is irregular because you can’t make an apostrophe-letter swap. Illogical though it may seem, won’t is the contraction of will not. d Don’t. Drop the space between the two words, eliminate the o, and insert an apostrophe to create don’t. e you’re, don’t. The first contraction sounds exactly like the possessive pronoun your. Don’t confuse the two. f would’ve, wouldn’t. Take care with the first contraction; many people mistakenly re-expand the contraction would’ve to would of (instead of the correct expansion, would have). The second contraction, wouldn’t, substitutes an apostrophe for the letter o. g can’t. Did you know that cannot is written as one word? The contraction also is one word, with an apostrophe knocking out an n and an o. h he’s. The same contraction works for he is (as in this sentence) and he has. i I’d. You’re dropping the letters woul. j you’d. The same contraction works for you would (as in this sentence) and you had. k She’s. The apostrophe replaces the letter i. l could’ve. Be careful in re-expanding this contraction. A common mistake is to write could of, an expression that’s a total no-no. m ’99. A date may be shortened, especially if you’re out with Adam. Just be sure that the context of the sentence doesn’t lead the reader to imagine a different century (2099, perhaps). This one is fairly clear, given that we’re nowhere near 2099, and 1899 is probably not the intended meaning. n ’06. Not much chance of the reader misunderstanding which numbers are missing here (unless he or she is really old)! o we’re, we’ll. The apostrophes replace the letter a and wi. p ’12, they’re. In the first part of this sentence, the apostrophe replaces two numerals. It’s okay to drop numerals as long as the reader is likely to understand what’s been left out. In the second part of this sentence, the apostrophe replaces the letter a. q we’re. The apostrophe replaces the letter a in this contraction of we are. r who’s. The apostrophe replaces the letter i in this one. s He’s. Only one letter is replaced here (i ), but in this hurried world, every letter counts. t We’ll. This one is a bargain. Drop two letters (wi ) and plop in an apostrophe instead. 96 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 12_599321 ch07.qxp 4/3/06 11:23 PM Page 96 97 Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes u He’d. The apostrophe is a real space saver in this contraction; it replaces woul. v should’ve. If you take out the ha, you can insert an apostrophe and create a contraction. w couldn’t. I’m not sure why anyone cares about gossip, but I’m sure that the contraction has an apostrophe in place of the letter o. x isn’t. Drop the o and replace it with an apostrophe. y can’t, doesn’t. Two for the price of one here: In the first blank, you substitute an apostrophe for the letters no. In the second, just the o drops out in favor of the apostrophe. A Carol’s, tonight’s. Carol owns the car, so you just need to attach an apostrophe and an s to a singular form to create a singular possessive. The second answer illustrates a time/money pos- sessive expression. B three months’. The value of time and money can be expressed with a possessive form. Because you’re talking about months, a plural, the apostrophe goes after the s. C Jess and Marty’s. The sentence tells you that the boys own the tires together, so only one apostrophe is needed. It’s placed after the last owner’s name. The possessive pronoun her, like all possessive pronouns, has no apostrophe. D boys’, sister-in-law’s. The plural possessive just tacks an apostrophe onto the s, in regular, end-in-s plurals. Hyphenated forms are easy too; just attach the apostrophe and an s to the end. E Jill’s, brothers’. The first form is singular, so you add an apostrophe and an s. The second form is a regular plural, so you just add the apostrophe. F a day’s, Women’s. The first form falls into the time/money category, and because day is singu- lar, you add an apostrophe and an s. The second is an irregular plural (not ending in s), so you tack on an apostrophe and an s. G car’s. A singular possessive form calls for an apostrophe and an s. H Jess’s and Marty’s. Okay, the brothers are close, but they draw the line at shared toothbrushes. Each owns a separate brush, so each name needs an apostrophe. If a word ends in s (Jess, for example), adding an apostrophe and another s creates a spit factor: People tend to spray saliva all over when saying the word. To avoid this unsanitary problem, some writers add just the apostrophe (Jess’), even though technically they’ve neglected the extra s. Grammarians generally allow this practice, perhaps because they too dislike being spit upon. In all but the strictest situations, either form is correct. I helpers’. To create a plural possessive of a word ending in s, just attach an apostrophe. J judge’s, two thousand dollars’. The first answer is a simple, singular possessive, so an apostro- phe and an s do the trick. The second is a time/money possessive, and two thousand dollars is plural, so just an apostrophe is needed. K Carol’s, court’s. Two singular words, so only an apostrophe and the letter s are needed to make each possessive. L mother-in-law’s. The apostrophe and the letter s follow the last word of the hyphenated term. M Ten hours’. The apostrophe creates an expression meaning ten hours of begging. Because hours is plural, only an apostrophe is added. 12_599321 ch07.qxp 4/3/06 11:23 PM Page 97 N car show’s, animals’. The first is a singular possessive, and the second is plural. O geese’s. The word geese is irregular. In an irregular plural, an apostrophe and the letter s are added. P fish’s. The word fish is irregular (and unusual); the singular and plural form are the same. To create a possessive, add an apostrophe and the letter s. Q weeks’. To create a plural possessive, add an apostrophe after the letter s. R animals’. This regular plural ends with the letter s. To show possession, add an apostrophe. S months’. This regular plural needs only an apostrophe after the s to become possessive. T cook’s. When one cook becomes possessive, he hogs all the desserts. Oops. That’s life, not grammar. Just add an apostrophe and the letter s. U The doctor belongs to John (in a manner of speaking), so the apostrophe is needed to show possession. V This time expression needs an apostrophe and an s. W A simple plural (not possessive, not a numeral, and so on) takes no apostrophe. Things to Do This Week A. Call John’s doctor and arrange for a release of annual medical report. B. Check on last spring’s blood pressure numbers to see whether they need to be changed. C. Ask John about his rodent problem’s. D. Find out why networks can’t broadcast Tuesday’s speech live, as John needs prime-time publicity. E. Ask whether his’ fondness for long speeches’ is a problem. F. Send big present to network president and remind him that you are both Yale ’06. G. Order bouquet’s for secretary and National Secretaries’ Week card. H. Rewrite speech on cat litter’ to reflect sister-in-law’s ideas. I. Tell opposing manager’s assistant that “you guys wouldn’t stand a chance” in the old day’s. 46 48 52 57 59 47 49 53 60 55 50 51 54 56 58 98 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 12_599321 ch07.qxp 4/3/06 11:23 PM Page 98 . sofa; George, Jeb, and Barbara’s memories). 93 Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes 12_59 932 1 ch07.qxp 4 /3/ 06 11: 23 PM Page 93 ߜ Separate ownership: If two or more people. a chance” in the old day’s. 46 48 52 57 59 47 49 53 60 55 50 51 54 56 58 98 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 12_59 932 1 ch07.qxp 4 /3/ 06 11: 23 PM Page 98 . Drop two letters (wi ) and plop in an apostrophe instead. 96 Part II: Mastering Mechanics 12_59 932 1 ch07.qxp 4 /3/ 06 11: 23 PM Page 96 97 Chapter 7: One Small Mark, a Whole New Meaning: Apostrophes u He’d.