How Good is Your Apostrophe Knowledge?
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It seems to be a sticking point for many people, where to put an apostrophe.
I did my English Language exam after an adult education course and finally got to grips with apostrophes and now I am like the grammar police finding errors everywhere, even at Tesco!
Without cheating which of these are correct?
- The musician's instruments are over there.
- The musicians' instruments are over there.
- It's really cold today.
- I bought several game's today.
- W. H. Smith sells lot's of stationary items.
- My daughter's are all married now and I have three lovely sons-in-law.
- It isnt right to drop litter.
- They're over their with there mum.
Numbers 5 and 8 have a few spelling errors just for fun!
3 and 8. Im second guessing 8 as 'their' should be 'there' so scrap 8. Lol 3 for certain.
boepeep Yes the first two are both correct even though the actual wording is the same. It depends on whether it is one or more musicians being referred to. The musician referred to in the first might have several instruments.
Spelling apart 3 and 8 are correct ( their and there in the wrong place , stationery wrongly spelt ) . Getting befuddled with 1 and 2 
, depends on whether it's one musician or several musicians .... so both are correct or have I completely lost my marbles ? 4,5,6,7 wrong .
Golfforall I hadn't seen your answer regarding the musician, but thought I should explain that both "stationary" and "stationery" can be correct.
W.H.Smith sell numerous items that do not move. Even a pen is usually stationery and also stationary when it's not being used. 
There was no need for the apostrophe in "lot's" though.
(a tip - the word stationery contains an E (E for envelope) I get tired of seeing the words confused.
I would have used SELL (not sells). "He sells... they sell".
Ide love to join in but preffer not to expose the grammer ped Aunt that I am. Instead, let's eat Grandma!
"4. I bought several game's today."
Says several and then singular than plural. Doesn't sound right, should be "I bought several games today."
"5. W. H. Smith sells lot's of stationary items."
Should be "lots" than "lot's."
"6. My daughter's are all married now and I have three lovely sons-in-law."
Makes it seem there's more than one daughter with "daughter's are all married" yet it's *daughter's, not daughters.
"7. It isnt right to drop litter."
Ought to be "isn't" rather than "isnt."
"8. They're over their with there mum."
Oof, should be: "They're over there with their mother."
That's my interpretation of it.
U sound like my daughter, sheโs 36 and always complaining about wrong use of Apostrophes. Sheโs terrible, forever correcting myself & her brother and sisters. Grammar police have nothing on her 
Feel sorry for her daughter, typical teen who just writes and talks in text speak
chele44 Isn't "U" rather than "You" text speak ? Seems like it's rubbing off on you 
.
chele44 to be honest I am glad your daughter cares about the English language and its correct use. If people are not bothered about it that is certainly their prerogative, but they will be the poorer for it. The written word can easily be misunderstood if a comma, apostrophe or full stop is missing, or indeed added where not needed.
I find it strange that some folk take the pee out of those who like to correctly use our language but don't bat an eyelid if someone cares about Maths, Science etc.
A lot of it is down to laziness but it would only take an hour with a good teacher to master punctuation and other rudiments of our language.
If someone said they were good at say, knitting, you would probably think it a good thing but if they are good at English they are perceived as being 'up themselves'.
I don't have any other talent but for some reason I have always understood English and only have to see a word written to remember how it is spelled. I guess it's the opposite of dyslexia and I feel for those who have a hard time with that problem.
Anyway, just wanted to do a light hearted chat that may (or may not) clarify for some and I sincerely apologise if it has come across as pompous.
Ok everyone it seems we have a clear winner in PhilipMarc, followed closely by Golfforall who correctly sussed that it depends on whether it is one musician or several, so both are correct. 1. One musician with several instruments belonging to him/her and 2. Several musicians with several instruments belonging to them all. The apostrophe in 3. is correct as it indicates that a letter is missing, in this case an i.
- No apostrophe needed for plural words, no letters are missing nor is it a belonging word, (as we were taught in school!)
- Same as 4.
- Same again as daughters is just a plural word.
- Is wrong as apostrophe is missing between n and t to denote that o is missing.
- Strictly speaking this is correct apostrophe wise, but their and there should be switched.
I think golfforall was the only one to pick up on stationary.
A good way to remember that is e for envelope.
I was going to do some more of these but maybe it's not a good idea
, but I will leave you with a couple of grammatical riddles.
Usually by adding s to a noun it becomes plural but what singular word becomes plural by taking the final s away?
What is the only word in the English language to have two consecutive double letters.
Those with long memories may remember I have shared these quite some time ago.......answers tomorrow evening
So 4 of the phrases were correct (apostrophe wise ) 1,2,3,8 ? Not the 3 you stated as a clue earlier ?
Golfforall well if you're being pedantic I did just ask which of the following are correct and said I threw in a couple of wrong spellings, so only 3 of the 8 are correct.
Lynibis This was fun considering the English language keeps getting butchered by the day.
Scene from the movie Idiocracy (more of a documentary now):
I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but the world has gone to sh*t quite fast and folks who can move out of cities should do it. Plus, own some land if they can.
2030 doesn't look promising at all. Look that year up if interested.
PhilipMarc gosh no, I can't look it up as it depresses me so much. You probably suss from many of my topics how disenchanted and angry I am with the world at large. It seems we never learn and human nature is no different to what it was in ancient and medieval times.
I'm not the brightest when it comes to written English, but I'd say that only 1 and 2 are grammatically correct. I must be wrong though.
What is the only word in the English language to have two consecutive double letters?
Err...
BALLOON
TATTOO
WOOLLEN
BOOKKEEPER (itโs a treble)
Lynibis There is another word that has three consecutive double letters... it is BOOKKEEPING. (it's done by bookkeepers). I suppose it could be said that BOOKKEEPERS is yet another. 
davidstockport my memory of schooldays is very blurry but my English teacher (can still remember he was Mr. Williams) probably said which noun has got 3 consecutive double letters, which would, of course, include singular or plural, but not bookkeeping.
1&2 3&8 are correct? The first two I'm certain as the apostrophe works for singular or plural
Answers to riddles. Johnny has given answer of bookkeeper (and other versions by David) to the 2nd riddle but here is the answer to the first:
PRINCESS is a singular word but take away the last S and it becomes PRINCES, plural.
MelissaLee1 ha ha I like it. But there are plenty of real life examples. I might start taking photos and showing here!
- The musician's instruments are over there. - This sentence is correct. The use of apostrophe indicates that the instruments belong to a single musician.
- The musicians' instruments are over there. - This sentence is also correct. The use of apostrophe indicates that the instruments belong to multiple musicians.
- It's really cold today. - This sentence is correct. The apostrophe is used to indicate the contraction of "it is".
- I bought several game's today. - This sentence is incorrect. The use of apostrophe is incorrect. The correct sentence is "I bought several games today."
- W. H. Smith sells lot's of stationary items. - This sentence is incorrect. The use of apostrophe is incorrect. The correct sentence is "W. H. Smith sells lots of stationary items."
- My daughter's are all married now and I have three lovely sons-in-law. - This sentence is incorrect. The use of apostrophe is incorrect. The correct sentence is "My daughters are all married now, and I have three lovely sons-in-law."
- It isn't right to drop litter. - This sentence is correct. The apostrophe is used to indicate the contraction of "it is".
- They're over their with there mum - The apostrophe used is correct. The spelling of "their" and "there" is incorrect.
Tom Regarding number seven: The sentence with your added apostrophe in "isn't" is correct but your definition of "isn't" is not.
"isn't" is not a contraction of "it is" it is a contraction of the words "is not".
Confusing innit?
Incidentally anyone wondering about the word "innit" (meaning "isn't it") might find this of interest, I've known for quite some time it is a valid Scrabble word and it is now accepted and listed as a proper word by the OED.
From elsewhere:
When was innit added to dictionary?
The second interesting thing is that this construction (its spelling innit and the way it is currently used invariantly by young speakers) is now included in the September 2009 online update of the Oxford English Dictionary.
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