News

SIYE Writing 101: You Say Weasley's, but I Say Weasleys'

Hi y'all! Welcome to another edition of SIYE Writing 101! After vicious doxy attack and being held hostage by three very fuzzy copies of Crookshanks for the past few months, we will be resuming these grammar and editing columns.

In today's column, we will discuss a problem that has cropped up in a good many stories on this site: The nasty case of the elusive apostrophe.

Apostrophes, like commas, are to be wielded with the utmost care. The most common mistakes we see in stories is that people will utilize them in the wrong fashion when referring to certain families in the plural sense. For example:

Weasley's
Dursley's

This is correct when you are referring to a specific member of the Weasley family or the Dursley family.

"This is Ginny Weasley's broom, and I'd like for you to give it to her, Potter," Professor McGonagall said.

"That? That's Dudley Dursley's and I want nothing to do with it," Harry muttered.

When referring to the family as a unit, the apostrophe is placed after the "s."

Harry was ecstatic. He wouldn't have to spend another minute with in Dursleys' home for the rest of his life.

Hermione's eyes grew wide as she took in the Weasleys' home for the first time. The Burrow was like nothing she had ever seen before, but she found herself falling in love with it immediately.

Here are some basic rules for utilizing apostrophes with possessives in your stories. Most of these rules cited are copied directly from pages 142-143 of the Prentice Hall Reference Guide to Grammar and Usage and do not belong to me:

1. When you need them for a singular noun, use 's.

2. If a singular noun ends in -s, the s after the apostrophe is optional if the s doesn't make the pronunciation difficult. The Elements of Style recommends that you use 's after singular nouns ending with -s, but either way is acceptable.

3. For plural nouns ending with -s, add just an apostrophe.

4. For plural nouns not ending with -s, use 's

5. For indefinite pronouns (such as pronouns ending with -body and -one, such as no one, someone, and everybody), use 's.

6. For compound words, add 's to the last word.

7. For joint ownership by two or more nouns, add 's after the last noun in the group.

8. For individual ownership when several nouns are used, add 's after each noun.

If you have any questions or topics for future columns, please feel free to submit them to dqbunny@siye.co.uk. Next time, join us as we explore specific terms in the Harry Potter Universe. Should it Apparition or apparition? Common Room or common room? Join us and find out!

DQBunny on 2007.06.12 - 07:01PM ()

Comments

lecook4 came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.12 - 07:04PM to say:

Yay! I've been looking for ward to the next installment. You should probably repost the commas one since we have so many new members now, or make a link to them or something. This is great. I was having this very problem a couple of days ago! :-) Excellent work DQ!

hot48cricket came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.12 - 07:07PM to say:

Nicely done! I think you should do one on your and you're and threw and through. Also to, too and two! I know there are more out there!

harrystwin1 came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.12 - 08:37PM to say:

Thanks for the lesson. I liked the one about commas it was a great help Please keep up the good work and I agree with Hot48cricket, we need one for common spelling mistakes if you have the time.

griffindorechicky101 came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.12 - 09:40PM to say:

thanks there popet are you from texas

Spenser Hemmingway came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.13 - 01:03AM to say:

Be careful with its. It is the one posessive without the apostrophes. It's = it is, but its means that it belongs to whoever it is. Thanks DQ for the lesson. We need to sell guides in the Wealseys' store...or at least post them more often. Eric B.

DarkLady came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.13 - 03:21AM to say:

Thanks for this... I know I get a little confused sometimes. It really helped.

DQBunny came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.13 - 03:26AM to say:

lecook4: I'll definitely make a link to the previous two in the next one! hot48cricket: Good idea! I think I do have that subject in my notes somewhere. It'll mesh well with Spenser's suggestion on its and it's. griffindorechicky101: I'm originally from Alabama, but I now live in Arizona. :)

Moxterminator came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.13 - 04:22AM to say:

You should create a section on this site to put them so it is easily found by the writer's

gsteemso came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.13 - 12:34PM to say:

This looks like a useful refresher course for those of us to whom apostrophe-wrangling doesnâ€™t come naturally, but I think it could have been more complete. Apart from the aforementioned omission of the one exception to the rules (â€œitsâ€), I would like to have also seen mention of: + The OTHER use for apostrophes, namely contractions â€” Iâ€™m sure we have all seen quite enough of sentences like â€œYour going to finish youâ€™re story or else!â€ + The overlapping subject of when and where to add -s to indicate a plural (unlike the possessive -â€™s, the plural -s can appear in the middle of a compound word), along with a reminder that plurals never contain an apostrophe unless they also contain a possessive â€” thank you, Moxterminator, for the live example in your comment above. + There were some others I thought of as well, but I have forgotten them again. Sorry.

DQBunny came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.13 - 06:48PM to say:

gsteemso: Contractions are going to make up a session on its own. The issue is that these articles all appear on the main page of the site and so I have to be considerate as to length. They can't be too, too long or else people won't read them and they'll literally take up the entire news page. But thanks for the suggestion!

Alanius came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.14 - 06:49AM to say:

English is such a beautiful language. No language to my knowledge has three (!) genitive forms. I could say Malfoy Manor, referring to the Draco's home, but I could also say Malfoy's Manor or even the Manor of Malfoy. Some of these might sound weird, but they're all gramatically correct! What if a ball belongs to me and my brother John? How would I refer to it?

Old Fart came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.15 - 08:50PM to say:

I know this isn't the best place to ask a question, but I don't know where else to ask. I've been looking for a story that I remember reading before, but can't remember the author, or the title. In the story, Harry shows scenes from his past adventures to his friends at a birthday party. He also shows these scenes to the aurors whith whom he is training with. I also remember Harry dueling with Mad Eye and Harry summons Mad Eye's magical eye. Can anyone point me in the right direction?? Thank You!!

JadeSeraph came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.15 - 08:58PM to say:

DQ - I saw what you were going to do with the next work, and I just wanted to point out there is a huge, gigantic list of terms and how they've been capitalized in canon on HPLexicon. I'm not sure how much use that is because even Jo isn't consistent in som respects, but I just thought I'd put it out there. Very nice guide in any case. It's pretty bad when I know better and still use Weasley's home to refer to the Burrow. >_<

Alanius came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.16 - 05:21AM to say:

Old Fart - I believe that might be The Darkest Hour by Ham. I might be wrong, though ...

Old Fart came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.16 - 07:30PM to say:

Thank you Alanius.

Victor Aagaard came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.16 - 10:58PM to say:

Right on, and well done. Just off the top of my head (in the line of topics) - would it be "my aunt and uncle's house" or "my aunt's and uncle's house?"

Alanius came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.17 - 04:46AM to say:

I'm pretty sure it would be "my aunt and uncle's house", but I'm not sure if it would be "my and my uncle's house" or "mine and my uncle's house" ...

Victor Aagaard came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.17 - 01:09PM to say:

Thank you. "My and my uncle's house" sounds horrible, but it seems gramatically correct... Most likely I'd just try to avoid the situation altogether. :-)

pcoates came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.18 - 10:21PM to say:

Are there not special rules for when you have a proper name that ends in s? Isn't it "Moses's staff" (Ithe old testament character), but "Moses' shop" (Moses the tailor)

Rick Peterson came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.22 - 06:11PM to say:

Very well done. I often get a little annoyed at how people misuse apostrophes. It's not a big deal, I know, and it doesn't stop me from enjoying the story, but it does grate on me. I would love to see your lesson on commas -- as they seem to be even more misused than apostrophes -- but have been unable to find it. Of course, I could be the one who's wrong and they are doing it right!

Rick Peterson came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.22 - 06:12PM to say:

Very well done. I often get a little annoyed at how people misuse apostrophes. It's not a big deal, I know, and it doesn't stop me from enjoying the story, but it does grate on me. I would love to see your lesson on commas -- as they seem to be even more misused than apostrophes -- but have been unable to find it. Of course, I could be the one who's wrong and they are doing it right!

Dianne came out of the woodwork on 2007.06.23 - 10:59PM to say:

I'm forty. When I was in school, we were not allowed to begin a sentence with the words, 'but' 'because' 'suddenly' or 'and'. Now I guess this is ok? Also, it was considered terribly rude and was marked incorrect to ever say or write 'me and my friend'. It was always 'My friend and I'. No exceptions. I have no idea what is going on because I can't wrap my brain around this, especially the 'me and Brian' kind of thing when the teacher back then would lightly wallop the back of our heads for putting ourselves first. But then again now I volunteer in a school and kids wear their baseball caps in the halls. We were not allowed to do that either, it was considered rude to wear a hat inside. Times change but language doesn't. Seriously, the 'me and so and so' thing ... Is there anyone else who was taught that this was wrong?

catfoodman came out of the woodwork on 2007.07.03 - 05:43PM to say:

And one thing I'd like to add, because I see this frequently. If you're talking about them as a groups, please *don't* add an apostrophe. Harry went to talk to the Weasleys, not the Weasley's. He didn't stay with the Dursley's during the summer hols, either...