The Yahoo! Style Guide: Apostrophes (') Mark the Spot

Now there is a better way to write online. Writing for the Web is certainly different from the traditional printed materials. The problem lies in finding the definitive reference style guide book and website with all of the correct editorial practices in a clear cut manner. That's why there's The Yahoo! Style Guide book and website. The call has been answered at long last for a style guide and website specifically for the internet age. It covers the areas of writing, editing and creating content for the Web.

However, the focus will be on the area of editing with the chapter titled Editing 101. It can be found on the website's homepage at the bottom on the left-hand side. The second one subtitled "Apostrophes" is what we'll concentrate on for this tutorial. There are many common errors on where you place the apostrophe at. It is confusing when I try to place it for numerals, like when referring to a decade. I never know if it's 80's or '80's or '80s. Find out what the correct answer is and much more when it comes to apostrophes.

What's an Apostrophe?

Basically its job for you as a writer is to help form possessives for clarity and with omitting letters and numerals. This is especially beneficial when tweeting at Twitter when you're limited to 140 characters.

Apostrophes are used to form contractions in verbs such as I'm, it's and they're.

Using apostrophes in contractions makes it less formal and reader-friendly too.

When you're using them for a specific decade, place it by omitting the century, for example '80s.

When You to Use it in Forming Possessives

The Yahoo Style Guide is going to be extremely helpful in figuring out some of the confusing ways to use apostrophes in possessives. Here are some of the general rules of thumb to remember:

Singular nouns - Add an apostrophe and an s ('s) to the end of the word such as: campus's main building, Arkansas's politics and Lucas's next film. This is the one that always confuses me the most.

Plural Nouns not ending in s - Once again add an apostrophe and an s to the end of the word. For instance: women's clothing, children's books and men's shoes.

Plural Nouns ending in s - Simply add an apostrophe after the s. Here's some examples: boxes', lions' and witches'.Be sure not to use an apostrophe when forming any possessive pronouns such as its, yours, hers, ours and theirs.

Using Apostrophes in Plurals (Rare Cases)

Most of the time plurals don't have apostrophes even with abbreviations, acronyms and numbers such as ATMs, Drs. and 1980s. However, use an apostrophe in letters and words only if it would be confusing without one.

Here are some prime examples:

She got all F's on her report card.
The Oakland A's are a baseball team.
Here's the do's and don'ts to follow.

Christopher Barr, Managing Editor of Yahoo! Interview

He's one of the managing editors and the primary author of the Yahoo! Style Guide. Sabah Karimi, an Associated Content Contributor, conducted an interview with Christopher Barr by asking him this one very important question:

How is the Yahoo! Style Guide different from resources such as the AP Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style? In a nutshell the response given by Christopher Barr was those traditional reference books do not address how to write for an audience online, that writing Internet-specific information is different when it comes to formatting and it covers a great deal about good writing and editing principles.

The Yahoo! Style Guide book will become as well known, if not right up there with the AP and Chicago Manual as the all-time definitive books for writing. Make sure to get your copy as soon as possible.

SOURCES:

Christopher Barr, The Yahoo! Style Guide, Yahoo!

Christopher Barr, Editing 101 Apostrophes ('), The Yahoo Style Guide

Heather K. Adams, "Online Writing Guide: Editing 101 - Apostrophes, Associated Content from Yahoo!

Sabah Karimi, "Exclusive Interview with Yahoo! Managing Editor Chris Barr", The AC Weekly