The apostrophe... punctuation without a purpose
Let's start with the apostrophe. There are actually two reasons we use apostrophes. The first is to take the place of a missing letter or letters. Contractions are a good example.
When we smoosh two words together to make one word, or when we shorten a single word, a letter or two are dropped and the apostrophe takes their place. "Do not" becomes "don't", "cannot" becomes "can't", and "we are" becomes "we're."
Sometimes we drop the last letter of a word to make its tone more casual. "I'm just thinkin'," again, a missing letter.
Another use of the apostrophe is to show possession. This is where things get confusing for many. We know to tack on one with an "s" to "Jack's dog" or the "boy's cap."
So when we write, "the dog chewed it's paw off", we put in an apostrophe. After all, the paw belongs to it. But we are wrong.
"It's" is the exception to the possessive rule.
THE ONLY TIME YOU USE THE APOSTROPHE IS WHEN IT IS A CONTRACTION.
"Its" fits in the possessive pronoun category with others like "hers", "theirs", and "yours".
However, the majority of us slap on that apostrophe, probably out of habit. So whatdo we do?
I propose we quit using it altogether. It doesn't clarify. It doesn't have a purpose anymore. No one uses it correctly.
Sometimes you just have to let it go.
Until next time, peace
I think the apostrophe still has purpose. I think most of us understand what it is for despite occasionally using it incorrectly. I think we would have more of a justification for not using it if that was the case already. Words have fallen out of use over the centuries but punctuation marks seem to be sticking around.
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