The Use of Apostrophe in Thesis

            The Use of Apostrophe in Thesis 

Written by Richard Lauchman in Punctuation at Work. Simple  Principles for Achieving Clarity and Good Style. Washington. Amacom. 2010. pp. 83-88.

We use the apostrophe to form contractions and to show ownership. The mark is used to create plural forms only when using s to form a plural would be confusing.

1. Contractions

In They’re finishing the project, the apostrophe indicates that you’ve left out the a in are. In She said she’d catch the next flight, the apostrophe indicates the omission of woul in would. Many people consider contractions to be informal—appropriate to spoken but not to written English—but they often have a place in day-to-day workplace writing. They don’t belong in rules, regulations, directives, and contracts, but they can help create a conversational tone in correspondence. Contractions are especially important in plain language texts of all sorts. Use them when the occasion calls for a relaxed or personal tone.

I’m looking forward to meeting you is arguably better for business than Making your acquaintance is eagerly anticipated by the undersigned.

2. Possessives

When you write Sam’s boots, you’re indicating that the boots belong to Sam. Here, the apostrophe indicates the omission of h and i.

3. When a noun (singular or plural) ends in a letter other than s, use an apostrophe and an s to form the possessive.

one man’s decision      the men’s decision                  IBM’s policy

a woman’s life             the women’s section               the cacti’s life span

4. When a singular noun ends in an s, simply add an apostrophe to form the possessive.

Jones’ reaction            Hawkins’ analysis                   my boss’ idea

People argue about this usage. Some authorities say you should add both an apostrophe and an s (e.g., Dickens’s novels, Jenkins’s plan). Others say that sometimes you add both an apostrophe and an s and sometimes you add only the apostrophe, depending on the sound. But are we really in control of what the reader imagines he hears when he reads? I’m recommending my preference here because I think most readers share it. If your organization has a style guide, consult it on this issue. If your organization has no style guide, prepare yourself for senseless arguments

5. When a possessive construction looks strange to you, find another way to show ownership.

If you think that both Aranjuez’ music and Aranjuez’s music look odd, then write about the music of Aranjuez. If Davis’ findings and Davis’s findings both look awkward to you, then phrase the idea the findings of Davis. You could also write Davis finds or Davis has found.

6. When the plural of a noun ends in s (as most do), add only the apostrophe to form the possessive.

the employees’ goal                the companies’ supplier           the players’ diet

7. When the plural of a noun does not end in s, add the apostrophe and the s to form the possessive.

the women’s club        the children’s toys       the criteria’s focus       the data’s validity

8. In cases where ownership is joint, only the last noun receives an apostrophe and an s.

JGT and DDI’s joint proposal                        O’Rourke and Creal’s partnership

FBI and CIA’s shared task

9. In cases where there is no joint ownership, make both (or all) of the nouns possessive.

JGT’s and DDI’s proposals are nearly identical.

EPA’s and BLM’s mandates sometimes conflict.

Fujita’s, Walker’s, and Pang’s theories help explain climate change.

10. In compounds, make only the last noun possessive.

someone else’s problem

the Attorney General’s mistake

Smith & Wesson’s patents

11. Don’t use the apostrophe with possessive pronouns.

ours (not our’s); yours (not your’s)     theirs (not their’s)        hers (not her’s)

12. Use the possessive case in expressions of duration.

The possessive case makes sense intuitively in phrases like a moment’s notice and last year’s results. After all, last year’s results are the results “of” last year in exactly the same way Jack’s boots are the boots “of” Jack. Using the possessive may not be quite so intuitive in expressions like a year’s imprisonment and eight hours’ work. But the apostrophe is necessary in such expressions of duration; here, we are talking about imprisonment that lasts for a year and work that occupies eight hours.

Use the apostrophe and the s here, and simply follow the rules regarding singular and plural, as in the examples below.

one day’s effort          one week’s vacation                three months’ notice               five days’ pay

In such expressions, you could hyphenate instead if you changed the words only slightly. For example, instead of writing about a need for three months’ notice, you could say you need a three-month notice. Instead of saying that someone was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment you could say he received a one-year sentence.

13. Use the possessive case for a noun preceding a verb ending in ing.

Jill’s seeking enlightenment led to her joining the circus.

My manager’s scheming will ultimately cost him his job.

The company’s establishing an office in China is a risky move.

14. Rarely do we use the apostrophe to form plurals.

The apostrophe plus s construction is used to form plurals in three special circumstances.

First, use it on those rare occasions when you need to pluralize a single letter or digit:

She has trouble pronouncing f’s and v’s.

The data stream consists of 1’s and 0’s.

Second, use it when you are pluralizing an abbreviation that ends with a period:

He has Ph.D.’s in linguistics and psychology.

Nine people with M.B.A.’s have applied for the position.

Finally, use it whenever it’s absolutely necessary for clarity:

Have you considered the pro’s and cons?

The diplomat explained the do’s and don’ts of the culture.

Here you simply have to trust your judgment. Newsweek omits the apostrophe in pros and cons, probably because the phrase has become a unit easily recognized by the culture. Generally speaking, it’s safe to follow the lead of the editors of a mainstream periodical.

Don’t use the apostrophe + s to form the plural in any other circumstance.

When an abbreviation doesn’t end with a period (most don’t), just use an s to form the plural:

several RFPs 12 CEOs

some of the ATMs a squadron of F-22s

This is also true in expressions of units of historical time. Just add an s.

The stock markets of most developed nations surged during the 1990s.

Over one million Irish immigrated to the United States in the 1900s.

15. Think twice about using the apostrophe to abbreviate the decade, as in ’20s and ’60s.

The apostrophe used to be expected in such constructions as the Roaring ’20s and the Psychedelic ’60s. Here it indicates the omission of 19. These days there is apparently no consensus on whether that apostrophe is required. Because context would indicate that you’re discussing a decade, common sense suggests we omit the apostrophe here, especially when you consider that it leads to such constructions as the ’70’s military build-up (meaning the build-up that occurred throughout the 70s) and the ’90’s economic spurt (the spurt that occurred during the 90s). The constructions ’70’s and ’90’s would be logical there, but the ideas are clearer if we write about the military build-up of the 70s and the economic spurt of the 90s.

16. Be exact with the names of organizations, places, and institutions.

Always follow the “authentic” form (the conventional way the name has come to be handled). Harpers Ferry, for example, was named for a place where a fellow named Harper once operated a ferry, and thus an English teacher would want to call it Harper’s Ferry (using the apostrophe to indicate ownership). But the authentic form of the name (the way the name is expressed in the town charter and on all maps) lacks the apostrophe—and you should follow that lead. It is the same with Typesetters Union, Dramatists Guild, Johns Hopkins University, and in every other case where names have become descriptive, rather than possessive.

The other side of this rule is that we should use the apostrophe when the name of the organization, place, or periodical conventionally ,uses one. It is Reader’s Digest, for example, not Readers’ Digest or Readers Digest. Why? Simply because that’s how Reader’s Digest prefers it.