There's simply no excuse for screwing up your apostrophes!

If I have one pet peeve (well, actually, I have many...), it's when people screw up their apostrophes. In fact, I have lost (Facebook) friends over this issue. (A woman I know vaguely was always making apostrophe mistakes in her Facebook statuses, so I said that I thought she'd be the kind of person who'd want to know she was doing it wrong...and very politely told her the correct form...and she was highly offended and unfriended me. Oh well! No huge loss--at least I don't have to look at the offending apostrophes any more.)

People usually put them in when they don't belong...

Hope all the mother's out there have a great day

The dog was chasing it's tail

Apple's for sale

Leave them out when they should be there...

Tomorrow is my dads birthday

Its going to be a great year

Or put them in the wrong place...

My friends' dad is really cool

It's time for my husbands' birthday

I've found that people are way more likely to put apostrophes in when they don't belong rather than put them in the wrong place or leave them out. The worst offense is the its/it's/its' issue.

I am really not an apostrophe snob...well, maybe a little. I don't want people to be paranoid about their writing around me!

At any rate, apostrophes are important. I was delighted when a coworker (and Facebook friend who has NOT unfriended me!) posted this on her wall--the Apostrophe Song!



Enjoy--and if in doubt about an apostrophe, look it up (or feel free to e-mail me to ask!).