Blog / Apostrophe Mistakes: 20 Real Examples and How to Fix Them

Apostrophe Mistakes: 20 Real Examples and How to Fix Them

The apostrophe has two jobs in English: it shows possession ("the cat's bowl") and marks a contraction ("it's" for "it is"). It never makes a plain plural. Almost every apostrophe error is a mix-up between these three cases. The examples below are real sentences that people sent to Proofread Bot.

The corrections are written in formal, academic English, so contractions are spelled out in full. Where a contracted or colloquial form is common in everyday writing, it is shown underneath as the informal version.

1. Missing apostrophe in a possessive

✗ The boys dog ran away.
✓ The boy's dog ran away.

✗ the cats heart raced furiously.
✓ The cat's heart raced furiously.

✗ Jupiters rings are made of dust.
✓ Jupiter's rings are made of dust.

✗ My familys heritage is important to me.
✓ My family's heritage is important to me.

✗ That is johns banana.
✓ That is John's banana.

✗ This is Jane book.
✓ This is Jane's book.

Test: can you rephrase it with "of"? "The heart of the cat" works, so it is "the cat's heart."

2. Plural possessives

For a plural noun ending in -s, add only an apostrophe after the s.

✗ I loved the tiny puppies tail.
✓ I loved the tiny puppy's tail.

✗ When you keep animals in a cage, vital parts of the animals nature are forgotten.
✓ When animals are kept in cages, vital parts of the animals' nature are suppressed.

✗ Five year's experience
✓ Five years' experience

In the first example, there was one puppy, so the singular possessive is needed: puppy's. Had there been several puppies, it would be puppies'. "Five years' experience" means "the experience of five years," so the apostrophe follows the plural years.

3. Apostrophes in plain plurals

✗ There are a lot of dog's here.
✓ There are many dogs here.

✗ Chicken's are cool.
✓ Chickens are cool.

✗ I want my friends' to be more playful.
✓ I want my friends to be more playful.

✗ I like to eat noodles'
✓ I like to eat noodles.

If nothing belongs to anything, there is no apostrophe. This also applies to decades ("the 1990s") and abbreviations ("several PhDs").

4. Names ending in -s

✗ Chris' room is dirty.
✓ Chris's room is untidy.

✗ Zeus' lightning bolt is massive.
✓ Zeus's lightning bolt is massive.

Both forms are accepted, and style guides differ. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends "Chris's" and "Zeus's"; AP style prefers "Chris'." Whichever you choose, use it consistently throughout a document.

5. Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe

✗ Every dog has it's day.
✓ Every dog has its day.

✗ He's handling of the situation seems all too familiar.
✓ His handling of the situation seems all too familiar.

✗ That pencil is there's.
✓ That pencil is theirs.

His, hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs are already possessive. See its or it's and your or you're.

6. Missing apostrophes in contractions

✗ Shes good at running.
✓ She is good at running.
Informal: She's good at running.

✗ I dont like apples.
✓ I do not like apples.
Informal: I don't like apples.

In academic writing, the simplest fix is to avoid contractions altogether. See contractions in academic writing.

Proofread Bot checks every apostrophe in context and tells you whether it should mark possession, a contraction, or nothing at all.

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