apostrophe misuse
Grocer's sign disease
Apostrophe misuse is the incorrect placement or omission of apostrophes, particularly confusing possessives with plurals.
Common errors include apple's for sale instead of apples, it's for the possessive its, and your's for yours.
Grocery store signs are notorious offenders, giving rise to the term "greengrocer's apostrophe." The error works both ways—omitting needed apostrophes (the dogs tail) or inserting unnecessary ones (the 1980's).
- punctuationWritten clarity symbols
- grammarLanguage's structural rules
- itsNeuter possessive pronoun
- it'sContraction of "it is"
- yourSecond-person possessive
you're · their · they're · grocer's · contraction · possessive · plural · error · typo · confusion · greengrocer · sign · mistake · pedant · grammar nazi · correction · spelling · English
apostrophe misusespelling error
misspelling · comma splice · run-on sentence · dangling modifier
apostrophe, apostrophes, misuse, misused, misuses, misusing, use, uses, used