How to use the apostrophe correctly
As a proofreader and translator, one of my main tasks is to correct English-language documents written by Germans. What surprises me is that these people tend to be more familiar with the mechanics of grammar than so-called "native speakers" are. Indeed, I regularly come across some shocking examples of how poor the general level of literacy is in both the UK and the USA. For that reason, I have decided to devote an article to one particular irritant of mine - misuse of the apostrophe! The apostrophe. Please use it correctly. The first use of the apostrophe is to indicate possession . For example, Emily's book (i.e. the book belonging to Emily) Mr Smith's house (the house belonging to Mr Smith) The company's turnover (the turnover of the company) If you have a singular possessive noun that already ends with 's', you can either add an apostrophe on its own or an apostrophe + an extra 's' after it. For instance,