Use of the apostrophe

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Guest

#1393 Fri, 27 Jun 03 07:59 PM

When trying to show possession in regard to a family owned business, would it be proper to display "Harpers' Bar" or "Harper's Bar". What is the difference between the two?

Guest

Difference between, Regards

Jason13_32

#1394 Fri, 27 Jun 03 08:14 PM

The apostrophe is used for two things only:

To signify two words joined: What is = What's

To signify possesion, here's the confussion:

Your bar would be "Harper's Bar" because there's only one "Harper".

If you were all nuns it would be "Nuns' Bar" - Many nuns - the apostrophe is used after the "s"

or

"At the zoo, the children were most interested in seeing the lions' den." - Many lions

Jason13_32

Joined on Wed, Jun 25 2003

Junior Member (20)

Apostrophes

Jacko

#1399 Fri, 27 Jun 03 09:55 PM

Just to add to Jason13_32's reply, there is another use for apostrophe that MLA recommends. Although at present, an apostrophe is no longer needed for plural numbers, letters, abbreviations, and words mentioned as words, it makes sense to put one on some, if not on all, of them.

Take this for example:

A's is not as vague as As.

Jacko

Joined on Fri, Jun 20 2003

Regular Member (215)

Abbreviations, Apostrophes, Numbers, Plurals

Orpheus

#1422 Sat, 28 Jun 03 08:19 AM

This is what I know:

If the family name is Harper, then the correct way to write it would be Harper's.
If the family name is Harpers, then Harpers's would be the correct one.