pitfalls... pt. 2

More fun grammar advice:

3. It's time for it

"It" can be a little difficult for some people when it comes to using "it" with an apostrophe. The most important thing to remember is that "its" and "it's" belong to two separate families. There's the family with apostrophes: he's, she's, it's. And the family without: his, her, its.

To check whether you need an apostrophe, run through the family tree.

He's fine. She's fine. It's fine. (Apostrophe required.)
His hat. Her hat. Its hat. (No apostrophe required.)

Another way to think about "it" is that with an apostrophe is always short for "it is" or "it has." The apostrophe turns the word into a contraction and is there to replace the missing letters.


4. Getting apostrophes down

This is a tough one sometimes. Do you say, "the student's education," or "the students' education"? Well it depends. A really easy way that I learned to get it right is to reverse the statement. Think about it in terms of "the education of the [.........]." Observe.

An apostrophe (or an apostrophe+s) goes after the exact word or phrase in the [brackets].

the education of the [student]
becomes: the [student]'s education

the education of the [students]
becomes: the [students]' education

the bikinis of the [babes]
becomes: the [babes]' bikinis

the fear of the [reaper]
becomes: the [reaper]'s fear

the playground of the [children]
becomes: the [children]'s playground.



Mull that one over. Until next time, stay sharp.